Star Wars: The Shinji Saga
by Aneirin
Summary: EvaStar Wars crossover: After the end of the Clone Wars, Shinji made the difficult decision to stay in the Imperial Army. He has managed to keep his friendship with Anakin, now Vader. A rebellion is brewing. How will Shinji face it? Shinji X Rei. mild ooc
1. the battle of geonosis

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars Just this story.

Authors note: This is my first fic, please no flames. oh, and a lot of the battles in this story are based off of my Star Wars Battlefront II experiences, so expect it to be a little bit game influenced, as far as weapons go.

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'How did I get myself into this mess?' Those were the words going through Shinji's head as he stared at the dusty Geonosian battlefield. There were lasers blasting all around him. He just hoped that his clone armor would protect him. If he'd had any idea what trouble he would be getting himself into by sneaking into that clone facility, he would never have followed Obi-Wan to the planet in the first place. Well he was here now, and couldn't do anything about it. he woke up from his short reminiscence by a loud blast.

"Move it soldier!" a clone shouted at him. He followed the clones lead. They were heading to a downed Techno-Union ship, to gain a foothold on the battlefield. Shinji, along with a squad of clones, made short work of the few droids that were hiding there. A small group of super battle droids headed to their area. Shinji fired his assault rifle, gunning down the leader of the group. The feeling of defeating his first enemy was... exhilarating! Shinji took down three others, and the squad he was with finished the rest. Suddenly he got a call on his communicator.

"We need you up on the cliff," the clone voice said, "It's west-southwest of your position."

"On it," Shinji replied. He made his way to the area. blasting his way through any droid he encountered. He had to go around the cliff to get to the top, the only way up was in the back of it. He got to the top and was confronted by two genosians and a sniper droid. The droid fired, and Shinji rolled out of the way just in time. He shot at the droid, just missing him. One of the geonosians blasted at him, and it missed, but hit the ground next to him, causing him to fall to the ground. He looked up as the sniper prepared to shoot, and his life flashed before his eyes.

Suddenly a purple blur slashed apart the droid and the bugs! Shinji followed the purple blurs movement, and discovered that it was a lightsabre. He then saw the owner of the lightsaber. It was him, Mace Windu. Mace walked over to Shinji and helped him up. "You alright soldier?" the jedi master asked.

"Y-yes sir," stuttered Shinji.

"You should really be more careful out here," said Mace. Suddenly Shinji raised his gun and shot past the jedi master. Windu turned around to see a droid falling to the ground. "Guess I should be careful too." He and Shinji walked over to a large stalagmite-shaped cave. It had electronics equipment in it, along with several screens. They were just about to step inside when they heard a noise from the bottom of the cliff. They rushed over and looked down. Five clones were trapped against the cliff face, pinned down by about eleven super battle droids. Suddenly two were killed, and the battle droids closed in on the remaining three. Without thinking, Shinji jumped off of the top of the cliff, which was a twenty-foot drop! He shot as he fell, destroying three droids. He then landed and proceeded to take out the rest. The clones, as well as Master Windu, were stunned.

"You alright?" Shinji asked the clones.

"Yes, but, are you?" replied one of the clones. "That fall could've broken you're legs!"

"Huh?" Shinji looked up and saw the distance he had fallen. And he almost fainted. He was lead back to the Techno-union ship to recooperate. Once there, the three clones introduced themselves. The one who had spoken originally was Commander Alex. The other was Commander Red, and the third, didn't say anything. Just then, Alex got a call.

"Yes sir, right away," Alex said. "Master Windu has requested that we lead the assault on the cave to the north of here. And Shinji, he wants you to have this." He opened up a crate and handed him an assault rifle. "It's called an Elite Rifle. Master Windu wants you to have it. Make good use of it, we've a limited supply of them." They headed out to complete their objective. The cave in question was crawling with geonosians. They rushed into the fray, and began blasting. The nameless clone ran ahead of them, blasting five geonosians with expert skill. Suddenly he was caught in the chest by a blast from a geonosian shock rifle. The geonosian was about to finish him off. The clone knew that this was the end. The next thing he knew, the bug had fallen over, missing it's head. Three powerful purple beams had erupted from Shinji's rifle. Shinji sprinted over to his fallen comrade.

"Are you ok?" he asked. The clone did not respond. "Hey can you here me?" Still no answer. Shinji pulled off the helmet, fearing the worst. He was met with a feminine face with red eyes and blue hair.

"I'm fine," the girl said. It took Shinji a moment to recognize her.

"Rei?" he said, puzzled, "Rei Ayanami?" Rei looked at him with confusion. He pulled off his helmet. She recognized him in a matter of seconds. They had gone to middle school and highschool on Coruscant together. He quickly put their helmets back on and helped her to a safe spot that the clones had set up. He had no idea how she had gotten there, but explanations would have to wait.

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What on Coruscant is Rei doing on Geonosia? How did Shinji sneak into the clone army? Why am I asking you all of these questions? Don't worry folks, I have this all planned out. You'll get to the explanations soon enough.

notes: the Elite Rifle is a Battlefront II weapon

and "we've a limited supply" is proper english, it's just not commonly used anymore.

oh, and if it seems a bit fastpaced I'm sorry. I'm not used to writting for gun battles, I do more for swords


	2. busted

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Alright folks, this chapter will be longer I promise. And again, a lot of the battles in this story are based off of my Star Wars Battlefront II experiences, so expect it to be a little bit game influenced, as far as weapons go.

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'Why is Rei here?' were the words racing through Shinji's head as he fought. He remembered the red-eyed girl, how she always sat so silently in class back on Coruscant. She wouldn't speak in class unless spoken to, and even then she was still quiet. He also remembered the slight crush he had had on her. As he thought about it, he realized that he still did. He was blasted from his thoughts as a laser grazed his shoulder.

"Ahh!" he cried, "Damn! I thought this armor was supposed to protect against lasers!"

"It does," said a nearby clone, "But you were hit in between the shoulder plate and the upper arm plate. You get used to it. Now stop daydreaming and start blasting!" Shiniji started blasting, trying to ignore the wound. he soon forgot all about it. He was making his way towards the cave, so he could complete his objective. Then he saw a droideka roll up. It stood up and started firing. Shinji fired back, but nothing happened. 'It must have some kind of shield,' he thought. He quickly rolled behind a large rock nearby. He studied the destroyer droid carefully.

He looked for any small weakness he could exploit. It wasn't long before he found one. he rushed at the droid right as its shields ran out. He rushed... right between it's arms! The droideka tried to fire at him, but couldn't. Shinji had found its crippling weakness. It couldn't maneuver it's arms enough to hit him! He placed his gun at the droid's chest and fired.

Suddenly, the droids realized something. They realized that Shinji... was a threat. as the nearby droids looked at the destroyed droideka, one super battle droid managed to say, "Oh crap."

"Roger roger," agreed another droid. They then started to concentrate their fire on Shinji.

Shinji fired back, but realized that there were to many droids. There was no way he could beat them all. He fought on anyway, ducking and dodging as he did, hoping to at least get rid of as many as possible before he was defeated. However, the clones in the surrounding are were now free from droid fire. They took the opportunity that Shinji had given them. They fired at the droids, who had foolishly turned their backs to them. As their barrage ended, Shinji was able to take out the remaining droids himself.

"Thanks guys!"he called to the clones.

"No problem sir!" one yelled back.

"Sir?" Shinji asked, puzzled.

"Yes sir,"answered the clone, "Didn't you receive the message? You were promoted to sergeant a little while ago. Mace Windu gave the order. Says your leader material."

'Cool,' Shinji thought. He began to wonder what he should do next, when he got a call over his communicator. "We need you back at the Techno-Union ship Sergeant," the clone voice said.

"On my way," Shinji replied. He made his way back to the ship, along with the clones who had helped him out. He blasted his way through any geonosian or droid that got in his way. He got to the Techno-Union ship, and Commander Red walked up to him. He was holding a backpack looking thing.

"Alright," he said, "A geonosian was killed above this ship. He was carrying a holocron which we believe may hold some of their plans. We've tried to send up a couple of jet troopers, but they keep getting sniped, and we can't seem to find the sniper. Master Windu requested that you go and get it. He says that he believes you can get the job done." He handed Shinji the metal backpack. "That's a standard issue jet-pack. It will allow you to fly. Oh and here," Red handed him a pistol. Shinji took it, and looked at it. It looked almost exactly like his pistol . "That's a special pistol. It's the DC-17p, also called a Commando Pistol. However, that one's even more advanced. It's almost like a sniper rifle. It has a scope which can zoom for about 100 feet. It's known as a Precision Pistol . But it has a limited ammo supply, so be careful."

Red lead Shinji outside, and gave him quick instructions on how to use the jet-pack. He then pointed to the top of the Techno-Union ship. "It's right up there," Red said. Shinji nodded and flew up to the top of the ship. He retrieved the holocron, no problem. He wondered where the sniper was. He was about to leave, when suddenly, he got a strong feeling. Somewhere, an instinct inside him screamed "DUCK!" He ducked instantly, and saw a red sniper beam fly over him. He quickly followed the beam back to the sniper. He looked through the scope of his pistol, and saw the sniper reloading. He swiftly aimed at the droids head and fired. The droid fell off of its perch, missing its head.

'Wow,' Shinji thought, 'It does work like a sniper rifle.' He flew down and delivered the holocron to Commander Red. "Good job soldier!" he said. He put the holocron in a safe place. "Alright," said Alex, stepping up, "We need you to do one more thing. That cave directly to the east of us is giving us a lot of trouble. We need you to go and capture that area."

"Yes sir!" said Shinji, saluting. Shinji gathered a small team of clones, around fourteen or so, and they set off. As they got further east, they ran into trouble. A large group of genosians and super battle droids were blocking the way, along with three droidekas. Shinji quickly came up with a plan. "Ok, on my signal, everyone throw a thermal detonater. And as for the droidekas, wait till their shields run out, then get in between their arms." They got into position, and waited for his command. Luckily, the droids hadn't seen them yet. "Now!" Fifteen thermal detonaters were tossed among the droids. They exploded, sending droid parts everywhere. Then Shinji and two other clones took care of the droidekas.

They made their way to the cave, fighting any droid or bug who got in their way. When they finally got there, they were a bit uneasy. The cave was swarming with geonosians. They threw in all of their thermal detonaters at once, and then ducked for cover. the detonaters went off, creating a huge explosion. Shinji and his team went in and cleared the rest out. "We got it," Shinji said over the intercom.

"Okay," came the response, "Just wait there until we send some support." It wasn't long at all, before about 100 clones rushed into the cave. "We want you to head back here," said the voice on his communicator, "Get here ASAP."

"Right away," Shinji answered. He headed back, followed by three clones. he was almost there, when suddenly ten droids seemed to pop out of nowhere! They attacked, killing two of his comrades. He and the remaining clone were able to beat them back. When there was only two droids left though, Shinji's partner was killed. Shinji immediately shot the droid who did it, and then tried to fire on the remaining droid. _Click click_. 'Damn, out of ammo," he thought. The engineer droid fired its shotgun at him, and he just managed to roll out of the way. He then ran up to the droid before it could reload, and smashed it across the head with the butt of his gun.

"Watch it!" yelled Alex, who had arrived just in time to see Shinji take out the last droid. He shot a droid that was sneaking up on Shinji. "Nice improvisation with that gun soldier!"

"Thanks," said Shinji. He headed back to the Techno-Union ship. He found a medical droid and an ammo droid, and got fixed up. Suddenly, another call came from Red

"Are you at the ship yet?" he asked, "We need help over on the west side. It's come under major attack!" . He rushed to the west side and soon found his comrades under heavy fire. He rushed into the fray, blasting out of both of his guns simultaneously. With his help, the clones were able to make short work of the enemy. Shinji then once again headed back to the ship, to take a quick and much needed breather. Shinji decided to go check on Rei. He wanted to see if she was okay after taking that blast to the chest. He found her in the back of the Techno-Union ship. Unfortunately, her helmet was gone, and she was being guarded by two clones and Mace Windu.

"What's going on?" Shinji asked.

"Well, this 'soldier' isn't really a soldier,"said Windu. "But, good job out there. You're quite impressive, seeing as your not a clone." Mace quickly snatched off Shinji's helmet. Shinji just stood there, stunned. "That's what I thought," said the jedi master, "I knew you couldn't be a clone. You adapt too quickly, and you show too many signs of free thinking. Real clones were created to simply follow orders. Now, I promoted you to sergeant for two reasons. One was because I was impressed by your skills, and the second was because I wanted to test you. A normal clone probably wouldn't have been able to give any major orders. No offense guys."

"None taken," said one of the clone guards, "You're probably right."

"Well," said Windu, "You're classified as a civilian now, and I want you to wait here." Shinji sat down, disappointed that Mace Windu had seen through his disguise. after a while though, the magnitude of the battle finally hit him. He could have died several times in the last hour or so. And at first it was a big shock, but something inside him had actually enjoyed it.

The battle was won soon after, and the clones were being shipped off to Coruscant. Shinji and Rei were put in a Republic Gunship and left alone. On most of the trip back, they were both silent. Eventually, Shinji tried to start up a conversation. "So how did you get on Geonosis anyway?"

"... Long story," Rei answered.

"Okay," said Shinji, "Well, why did you look so surprised when you saw me? I mean, Commander Alex said my name."

"...In the gunship I came in, there were three or four clones codenamed 'Shinji'. I just assumed that you were one of them."

"Oh,"said Shinji. He was about to say something else, when suddenly they landed. The side-door opened and in stepped three jedi: Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda.

"These are the two I told you about," Mace said.

"Hmm," said Obi-Wan, "I think I recognize the boy. Yes, he's the boy that hangs around the Temple all of the time. Shinji, right?" Shinji nodded.

"Yes and the girl is Rei Ayanami," said Mace Windu, "She's the senator that represents Coruscant in the Galactic Council." Shinji looked at her with surprise. So that was what she had been doing that past year.

"Now," said Yoda, "Shinji. How able were you to sneak into the clone forces, hmm?"

"Well," began Shinji, "I hang around the Jedi Temple all the time, so I can figure out when something's up. A few days ago, I saw Obi-Wan acting a bit strange. He got into his ship and was about to take off, and I was able to plant a tracking device on it."

"Where did you get a tracking device?" asked Obi-Wan.

"They sell 'em down at one of the shops near the temple," he answered. "Anyway, I followed him in one of my dad's ship. He doesn't really care what I do, so I figured it would be fine. So I followed Obi-Wan, and we came to this dark blue planet. Well, the place was raining when I got there, so no one saw me land. I managed to get into the building that Obi-Wan had gone in. I wandered around a bit, until I came to a room. It was filled with armor and weapons and stuff. At the end of the room there was a window. I looked through the window and saw the clones. Suddenly I got this feeling that said 'stay here.' I got inside some armor, and I went to go join the clones. After a few days of being in disguise, a call came over a loud speaker. 'All clones report for duty,' it said. I followed the clones, and we eventually came to a big conveyer belt. About halfway through, a mechanical hand pulled back the armor on my forearm, gave me two shots of some yellow stuff, and put the armor back. Then they loaded us onto ships, and we ended up on that battlefield."

The jedi looked at him for a moment, and then at each other. Then Obi-wan turned to Rei. "And how did you do it?" Rei was silent at first, and then she spoke.

"I've been speaking out in the senate for a while now against this separatist movement," she said, "And I decided I couldn't just stop it by talking. My friend Padme was almost assassinated, and I found out from her that the assassin was using equipment from a planet called Kamino. I have a personal map in my apartment, so I looked it up. I traveled there, and also secretly placed myself in the clone army." The three jedi and Shinji looked at her in awe. She didn't seem like someone who would do something like that. The three jedi conversed quietly for a while, then called in a clone.

"Do you know what they injected you with on Kamino?" Mace asked him.

"Yes sir," answered the clone, "It's a fluid called LCL, it slows down the aging process. We were given two shots, one to slow down the accelerated growth that we have, and a second to make us age even slower. For example, I will be a physical year older in about six years."

"Thank you for the information," said Kenobi. The clone gave a salute and walked out. then the jedi turned back to the two teenagers. "Well," said Kenobi, "It seems we have a bit of a problem there. Now as to what we should do with you, we've come to an agreement. Shinji, you shall stay with the army, you've proven yourself to be a most excellent fighter. But Rei, I'm afraid that your duties as a senator come first. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," said Rei.

"Good," said Yoda, "But a secret the LCL must be kept. If everyone knew about it, try to live forever they would. An unbalance it would create. Understand do you?"

"Yes sir," Shinji and Rei answered. The three jedi left, and so did Shinji and Rei. They walked for a while, until they came to a large area filled with clones and equipment. Shinji was about to go join the clones, when Rei stopped him. Shinji looked at her, confused. "You saved my life on that planet," she said. Then she gave him a kiss, and walked away. Shinji couldn't move for a moment. Did that really just happen?

"Hey Shinji!" a clone voice shouted. Shinji turned to see Alex calling over to him. "Get over here! We're being shipped out!"

"What?" said Shinji, "We just got back!"

"We got a job to do," answered Alex, "No time to complain. Now get over here!" Shinji ran towards the clones, unaware that he was being watched. Rei was looking back at him blushing slightly, and hoping she hadn't given away her secret. Truth was, she had had a crush on him since Jr.High She just hoped that Shinji felt the same way about her...

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Oh snaps! Rei has feelings for Shinji! But, can he make it through coming battles to be able to see her? And where the hell is Anakin? I'm pretty sure he's in this story somewhere...

Note: the Precision Pistol is also a reward in Battlefront II, just like the Elite Rifle, and LCL is only LCL in name. It has nothing to do with the stuff from the show, I just stuck it in there as a sort of cameo

and I know, I know, some OOC from Rei and a little from Shinji. but that last bit was because I wanted to give Shinji something to look forward to for whenever he gets back :)


	3. rhen var harbor

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Okay people! A lot of you have been wondering about it, so we will now finally learn how Shinji got to be such an awesome fighter! And just as a side note, this battle comes from my experience in Battlefront I. And this strategy works!

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Shinji was sitting down in the LAAT. His was still thinking about that kiss Rei had given him. He couldn't believe it. She'd actually kissed him! But his thoughts were interrupted, as a certain clone walked up to him. "Hey Shinji," Alex said, "I got that information you wanted."

"About the LCL?" Shinji asked

"Yeah," Alex replied. "Okay, the first dose was designed to cut the aging in half. That was meant to neutralize our doubled aging. However, for you that means that you would get one physical year older in two temporal years. Now the second dose was made to enhance the original dosage by six times. That leaves the clones with six years for every one year of aging. But for you, it'll be twelve years until you age one year."

"What!?" exclaimed Shinji, "I'm gonna be sixteen for twelve years?!"

"Well," said Alex, "I hope you like being sixteen. But hey, it could be worse."

"How? I don't want to be a teenager for the next 50 years!" said Shinji.

"That's the bright side then," replied Alex. "The LCL will eventually wear off. Nothing lasts forever. In fact, it should wear off in about 30, 35 years or so."

"Well, at least it wears off," said Shinji, "I don't want to be alive forever, or even close to forever."

"Strange," said Alex, "From what I understand, most people would love to live forever."

"Well," said Shinji, "If you live forever, and other people don't, then eventually you'd want to stop making friends. Because you'd live forever, but eventually they would die. And... I just wouldn't be able to handle that. I mean, if I lived forever, all I would be able to do is look back and think, 'How many friends of mine died in the past hundred years?' I lost my mother when I was just a kid. I don't even know what happened to her. All I know was that she was working on some secret project, and there was an accident, and she got killed. Then my dad... abandoned me. He just leaves me to look after myself. If the death of my friends can cause me as much pain as losing my mother did, I don't want to live forever."

Alex sat there silently. So did the other clones, who had been listening since Shinji had shouted 'What!?' They all looked at the boy with a different perspective. The only thing they had known about him until this point, was that he was a good fighter. They looked at him now as a young boy with a tragic past, and a wish not lose anyone. They gained a new respect for him. In the last minute or so, they had learned a great deal about his character. And they looked up to him for it. Finally, after about ten minutes, Red (who was sitting nearby) broke the silence.

"So Shinji," he asked, "Where did you learn to fight like that? I saw you on Geonosia and couldn't believe my eyes!"

"Well," replied Shinji, grateful for the change of subject, "I'll tell you. If you promise not to laugh."

"Why would we laugh?" asked Red.

"Well it's a bit silly," explained Shinji.

"We promise not to laugh," said Red. The clones agreed to the oath of silence.

"Well," began Shinji, "I was on my own a lot. And on the weekends, when I was bored, I used to go to a virtual reality arcade that was a few blocks away. There was this one game there called 'Battlefront.' The object of the game was to defeat at least 50 enemies before you were killed. The high-score was 100, and no one had ever beaten it. Well, I came every weekend, trying to beat the high-score. I worked at it for a year straight. I had managed to finish high school at age fifteen, because I really had nothing more to do then study. Well, the week after ! finished school, I went to the arcade. I started playing, and not only did I get the high score, I set a new one. I managed to get 157 kills before I got a game over. Fighting on Geonosia was pretty much the same thing."

The clones sat silently. Shinji couldn't see most of their faces, so he had no idea what was going through their heads. Suddenly, one sniggered. Then, as if a fuse had gone off, the clones all started laughing! They believed him, it was just that his story was so outrageous! They had been training all of their lives to fight, and they had been out fought by a sixteen year-old with an apparent video-game addiction!

"Hey!" exclaimed Shinji, "You guys promised not to laugh!"

"I'm sorry," said Alex, chuckling, "It's just funny. Tell you what. We owe you one, alright."

"Alright," said Shinji. The clones eventually stopped laughing, and they all sat in silence, waiting to arrive on the planet.

It was almost a day before they got there. When they landed, Shinji put on his helmet and stepped out of the gun-ship. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn't. This place was freezing! He looked around, seeing a few other LAAT's landing. They also had an AT-TE, which was currently being loaded up with clones. Shinji looked at his map. They were on the west side of a large mountain. In fact he could see the mountain, it was only a few yards from the landing area. The suspected droid base was on the other side. From what the map showed, they would have to go all the way around the mountain to get there. Shinji looked at the mountain, hoping to find a faster way. He was in luck.

He saw a cave entrance. He called a clone sharpshooter over. "Could you send a recon into that cave?"

"Yes sir," said the clone. He sent the droid into the cave, and monitored it's movement with a screen on his wrist. A few minutes later, the clone saw an opening. "It goes clear to the other side sir," the clone reported.

"Thanks," said Shinji. Shinji called Red over (Alex was already in the AT-TE). "There's a cave that goes directly through this mountain," Shinji said. "I have a plan, but it's a bit risky. Get a group of jet-troopers together, and get outfitted as a jet-trooper too."

"Alright," said Red. He and Shinji went to gather up a group of troopers. Shinji grabbed an EMP launcher and a get pack, keeping his assault rifle and pistol. He still had the Precision Pistol, but he had had to return the Elite Rifle, due to the limited supply. When the group was assembled, they had sixteen troopers in all.

"Alright," said Shinji, "Let's go." They headed into the cave, using the jet-packs to gain speed. The tunnel, thankfully, was very simple. About half way through, the tunnel lead into a large cavern. Shinji got an idea. He placed a signaling beacon down, and contacted the landing area base. "Send a force of clones into the cave," he said. "Just follow the signal and you'll come to a large cavern. Set up a second base of operations there, and then proceed to move east through the tunnel. There will probably be some droids when you reach the end of the tunnel, so be ready for a fight." Shinji lead his group of troopers through the rest of the tunnel. They came to the end, and saw the droid base.

Near the cave-mouth was an AAT, which was luckily empty. Shinji could only imagine what kind of destruction the tank.. could... cause? 'That's it!' thought Shinji. "Red," he said, "Get into the tank!" Shinji rushed out of the cave mouth, and before the droids saw him, hopped into the tank. Red did likewise. The droids still hadn't seen them. Shinji sat down in the tank's piloting space and looked at the controls. 'Oops,' he thought, 'I don't know how to work this thing. Well, looks simple enough.' He examined the controls carefully, trying to determine which thing did what. Once he had figured it out (or hoped he had) he radioed the jet-troopers, who were still waiting in the cave.

"Ok guys," he said, "Wait for just a bit, and then after the droids are in confusion, attack. Okay?"

"Yes sir!" a clone answered. then Shinji made a call to the clones in the AT-TE. "This is sergeant Shinji,"he said, "I'm in the droid area. When you get here, you should see an AAT firing at the droids. Do not fire at the AAT! Repeat, do not fire at the AAT!"

"Message recieved," replied a clone voice, "We aren't to fire at the AAT." Shinji made one last call to the clones who were currently going through the cave, repeating his last message.

Shinji moved the tank forward. A nearby engineer droid looked at it. That tank wasn't supposed to be moving. The droid didn't have much time to dwell on it, because suddenly he was blasted apart by a large blast from the tanks guns. 'Awesome!' thought Shinji. The droids all looked at the tank in shock. Red started firing the main gun of the AAT, sending the droids running. Shinji kept firing, trying to find droidekas, knowing that they would be the best targets to take out. Seeing that the AAT was causing considerable chaos, the jet-troopers flew out of the cave, some firing their EMP launchers, and some firing their Commando Pistols.

As if the droids didn't have a big enough problem! Their sensors had indicated that an AT-TE was directly on course with their base! And then suddenly, one of their own tanks had started firing on them! And to top it all off, jet-troopers were swarming all over the place. The droids started blasting. Snipers took aim at the jet-troopers, and assault and super battle droids aimed at the tank. The snipers fired, taking out three jet troopers, and the assault and supers fired their rockets at the tank. Shinji move the AAT out of the way in time o avoid most of them, but a couple of missiles still managed to hit, sending the AAT rocking with the force of impact. Shinji checked the tank's status screens. 'Shields:80'the screen read.

It was just starting to look bad, when the droids got another item to add to their list of problems. Clone troopers exploded from the cave mouth, swarming into the area. They began blasting at the droids. The droids fired back. And then suddenly, the droids added item #5 to their list. A huge tore through eight droids, and a large stone pillar! The AT-TE began preparing for another shot. The droids were cut off from all sides. Shinji and Red inside the AAT, firing at any and every droid they saw, clones everywhere blasting the hell out of them, and now a giant, 5-ton mechanical turtle was attacking! The droids tried to fight back, but they were being attacked from to many places at once. The droid force soon fell to the tactics of the clones.

Once it had been confirmed that all of the droids were destroyed, Shinji and Red got out of the AAT and went over to meet Alex, who was getting out of the AT-TE. "Nice plan Shinji!" Alex exclaimed. "Using their own tank against them was genius!"

"Well I figured that they weren't using it at the time so, hey why not?" Shinji joked. They did a count to find the number of casualties. they had made it out with only seven dead and five injured. Pretty good considering everything. "Can we leave now?" asked Shinji, hoping to get off of this frozen rock that was called a planet.

"Not yet," said Alex. "We have another mission on this planet before we can leave."

"Why are we here anyway?" asked Shinji.

"This planet is important," answered Alex, "It is the only other planet in the galaxy besides Kamino with the ingredients needed to make LCL. And besides, any one planet that the Seperatists have is one too many."

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Ok! I hope that batttle wasn't to short, but it doesn't take me very long to do that battle, so i don't have a lot of differing battle experience there. Oh and Shinji's strategy is a successful strategy that I myself have used many times(the level is Rhen Var harbor, start in the Ice Cave). What's up next for Shinji? When can he get off of this frozen rock? When will he be able to see Rei again? Tune in next time for the next episode of-crash sorry about that. couldn't help it : )

I will try to update soon though.


	4. rhen var citadel

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Ok! Sorry about the delay, been busy lately. This battle is also from Battlefront I. Not much of this is my strategy, I don't come here often enough.

P.S: This is like a week after Geonosis. It took them about that long to get to Rhen Var.

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They were all back in the gun-ships, heading for the next battle. It was practically on the other side of the planet! Or at least, that's how Shinji looked at it. The ride was an hour long. Shinji was back in his normal gear, no jet-pack or EMP launcher, just his assault rifle and Precision Pistol. They finally landed, in a small area at the base of a large ruinous old building. Shinji got out and looked around. He couldn't see much, due to the fact that the area they were in was very secluded. There was a set of stone stairs off to his left. He climbed up to see where they were. It _was_ a large building.

He checked his map. It indicated many droids to the far southeast of their position. He put his map back, then ran to the south. He had spotted an area on his map that looked like it would give a good tactical advantage as a base. "Where are you going!?" came Alex's voice over his communicator.

"I found a good spot for a base," Shinji answered.

"It can't wait?" asked Alex.

"Nope." Shinji kept moving. He reached his target. The area was small, but protected by three crumbling walls and a sheer drop off of a cliff on the south side. He set down a tracking beacon and waited. Suddenly a small group of droids ran into the area. There were two supers, a sniper, an engineer, and a droideka. They began firing at Shinji. Shinji quickly rolled behind a pile of rubble. He fired at the sniper, and then at one of the supers. He took them both down, but had to duck to avoid the oncoming fire.

He jumped up and fired at the engineer and the remaining super. All that was left now was the destroyer. He rolled out from behind the rubble and ran up to it. Again, as on Geonosis, the droid couldn't maneuver its arms to fire at him. The shield went down and Shinji blasted. He looked towards the east, and saw an alarming number of droids heading his way. Just then he got a call. "Nice work." The voice surprised him. It wasn't a clone voice. It sounded very familiar. "I saw your fight from here. Myself and Obi-Wan are heading there now with a group of clones."

A minute later, they arrived. The speaker had been none other then Anakin Skywalker. "Anakin?" asked Shinji, "Is that you?" Anakin was taken aback. He recognized that voice. "It's me Shinji! You know, the kid who liked to hang around the Jedi Temple?"

"Shinji?" said Anakin. Shinji nodded and removed his helmet. "No way."

"Reunions will have to wait," said Obi-Wan, "Look." He pointed to the droids Shinji had seen earlier. They were getting very close, and had already engaged the clone army. Shinji looked around. Then he saw it. A large tower, directly south east of their position.

"I have an idea," Shinji said, "Anakin and I will head over to that tower, along with a group of sharpshooters. From there, the snipers will have a huge advantage. What do you think?" Obi-Wan thought about it for a minute. Then he spoke.

"It's a good idea," he said. "You two take a group of snipers and head towards the tower. I'll stay and lead the clones here. Now, the maps indicate a large room in the center of the Citadel. When you finish your mission, we'll rendezvous there. Alright?"

"Yes sir," said Shinji.

"And you'll need this," said Obi-Wan, handing him an Elite Rifle from one of the crates the clones had brought along, "Especially since you're heading into dangerous territory."

"Thanks," said Shinji.

"May the Force be with you," said Obi-Wan. Shinji saluted, and put his helmet back on. He and Anakin gathered up the snipers, and headed out. They had to jump down several feet off of the east side of the base, because the only way not completely filled with droids was below them. The base Shinji had found was jutting out a bit. Thankfully it was only a nine or so foot drop. The group started moving east. They seemed to be doing well. There were no droids in sight.

Suddenly, when they were about half way there, about two scores of droids popped up out of the snow and began firing! Shinji and the group ducked down as fast as they could. Unfortunately, three of the clones weren't fast enough. As they fell, Anakin and Shinji jumped up and attacked. Anakin activated his lightsaber and started slashing through droids. Shinji started blasting, taking out one droid after another. The sharpshooters joined in as well, and in no time, the droids had been taken care of. Shinji grabbed one of the dead clone's sniper rifles, and strapped it across his back. They continued to make their way to the tower. When they got there, they saw an alarming number of droids guarding the area. Shinji called for them all to duck down.

"Any plans?" asked Anakin. Shinji thought for a moment. Then he remembered.

"Was anyone here with me on Geonosis?" he asked. "When we had to take that eastern cave?" A couple of clones raised their hands. "Ok good," said Shinji. "We're gonna do the same thing that we did there. On my signal, everyone throw a thermal detonater." He handed one to Anakin. They all took aim, making sure each grenade would count. Shinji gave the signal, and they each hurled their grenades. The droids couldn't react fast enough. The grenades exploded, and Shinji jumped up and began firing. Anakin activated his lightsaber, leapt up to the second story of the tower, and began slashing through droids. The clone sharpshooters began firing. After about ten minutes of hard fighting, the building was cleared of droids.

Shinji's group moved into the tower, and the snipers set up positions throughout the tower. The tower was missing a large chunk, that ran up and down the entire northeast side. It was about seven stories high. Once the snipers were positioned, Shinji and Anakin checked their maps. They located the large chamber that Obi-wan had mentioned, and started heading there. As they were moving, Anakin noticed that Shinji still had the sniper-rifle that he had gotten from the dead clone. "Why do you still have that?" Anakin asked. "Don't you have that special pistol?"

"Yeah," answered Shinji, "But, I just have this feeling that I'm going to need it." They kept walking. After a while, they could see the entrance to a large stone building. That was where they were supposed to meet Obi-Wan. They began climbing the stone steps. Suddenly, Shinji told Anakin to stop. Shinji crouched down, and took the sniper rifle off of his back. He aimed it at the top of a tower that was high above them. He zoomed in to 100 feet, but he couldn't see anything. He zoomed in another hundred, and saw an assassin droid. The droid hadn't seen them yet. Shinji tried to take careful aim, but it was difficult. It was very windy, and snowflakes kept getting in the way.

Suddenly, the droid spotted them! Shinji saw it take aim. Figuring he couldn't wait any longer, he fired at the droid, and it hit it in the knee. The droid lost its balance, and came tumbling down. Shinji and Anakin moved out of the way, narrowly avoiding being hit. They looked up towards the entrance, and saw it being guarded by a large number of droids, thirty at the very least. "Well," said Shinji, "That doesn't look to good.."

"You're right," said Anakin, "For you anyway. I'll be fine, but you don't stand a good chance against so many droids in such an open space, especially with just a blaster." Anakin thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. "Here," he said, handing shinji a shiny metal cylinder from his belt. "That's my extra lightsaber. You should stand a much better chance with it." Shinji activated it. He marveled at the green beam of energy. Then he and Anakin readied themselves. "On the count of three," said Anakin. "One. Two."

"Three!" they cried in unison. They rushed at the droids. The droids were taken aback by their sudden appearance, and started firing willy-nilly. Anakin saw that Shinji had some skill with a lightsaber, even though it was his first time. The droids fired at Shinji, but he was able to block most of them, and dodge the rest. He started cutting through droids, amazed at the power that the lightsaber possessed. Anakin threw his lightsaber and used the force to keep it traveling. But, as he was cutting through droids, a droid took aim and fired at him. Anakin saw it coming, but knew it was too late to move.

Suddenly, he saw a green blur! It deflected the laser and sent it right back at the droid. It was Shinji. "Nice block," said Anakin, bringing back his lightsaber. "I owe you one." Shinji nodded, and they continued to defeat the rest of the droids. They went through the entrance and ran through a long hallway, which lead into a large room. They found Obi-Wan and a group of clones battling several droids. Shinji tossed Anakin his lightsabre, and pulled out his Elite Rifle. He started firing, causing confusion among the droids. They were being attacked from both sides now?

Anakin cut his way over to his mentor, and they began fighting back-to-back. They were done in no time. When victory had been confirmed, Obi-Wan walked over to Shinji "Nice job, lieutenant," he said.

"Thanks," said Shinji, "It was... Wait, did you just call me lieutenant?"

"Yes," said Obi-Wan. "The commanders and I saw your performance on the field today. You're an excellent fighter, and an extraordinarily bright young man. We felt it would benefit all of us if you were promoted."

"Th-thank you sir," Shinji said. He saluted the jedi.

The clones had been loaded back into the LAAT's, along with the two jedi and Shinji. Anakin and Shinji were in the same LAAT. They decided to do some catching up, seeing as how it had been a year or two since they'd seen each other. They talked for a while, Anakin telling him about his adventures with Obi-Wan, and Shinji telling Anakin about how he had gotten into the army (he didn't mention the LCL in name, but did say that they had gotten injections). "So," Anakin said, "You seem to have some pretty good battle instincts."

"Thanks," said Shinji.

"But what really impressed me was how well you used the lightsaber," said Anakin. "You almost made it seem like you'd used one before."

"Well," replied Shinji, "That's because I have."

"What?" asked Anakin, astonished. "When?"

"Well, back when I would hangout around the temple, I would watch the padawans at lightsaber practice. Master Yoda would let me watch, and even call me in when they were one person short on days when they were sparring. So, I've practiced a little. But sparring practice is nothing like fighting opponents with blasters."

"Still," said Anakin, "You did well enough. And you even saved my life." Shinji was about to reply, when a call came through.

"Clones," the voice said, "Our next mission is on Naboo. The Seperatists are attempting to get Naboo on their side by force." The LAAT's set their coordinates, and headed out. This was the beginning of Shinji's career. Shinji- the greatest soldier of the 501st Legion.

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Alright folks! It's done. Sorry about the long wait, but I'm easily distracted. Plus, this was not my favorite battle to write for. But, it needed to be done. Also, sorry about the delay in mentioning what Legion he was in. Totally slipped my mind. And I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, you've given me good hints (especially asking about the Evas, cause I was debating about putting them in). The next chapter will get here sooner! Merry (late) Christmas!


	5. timeskip: introducing EVA

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Now it's time for a time skip! Woohoo! I know, seems kind of early for one, but I don't want to spend too much time with random battles. I'm doing this so that I can **1**.get to episode 3 battles (which I'm well practiced in) and **2**.get back to Rei, even if it's only for a little while.

P.S: At some point it will get more detailed, than get back to summary style. Try not to get confused!

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The battle of Naboo was one of the many battles that showed what Shinji could do. When they landed, the plains were crawling, no, covered with droids. Worst of all, they had tanks. A lot of tanks. Shinji organized the clones and took stock of what equipment they had. They had three tanks of their own, which had come with them via vehicle transport. However, tides changed when Anakin landed in his Jedi Starfighter. Shinji asked Anakin if he could use the ship while Anakin lead the ground troops. Anakin agreed and Shinji got into the ship. In moments, shinji had figured out how to fly it, and took off. Using this aerial advantage, he was able to take out many of the tanks, leading the 501st to victory.

As the war progressed, Shinji and the 501st were called on many missions. Shinji rose through the ranks, and gained much respect from the army, the Jedi Order, and even Chancellor Palpatine himself. Before long, Shinji was a captain, and almost on par with Red and Alex. The day that Shinji was promoted, Anakin gave him his Jedi Starfighter, remembering how well he could fly it. He was also awarded his own, personal Elite Rifle. Of course, traveling all over the galaxy fighting the CIS left Shinji almost no time to relax. Once in a while though, he would get a break. He would immediately head to Coruscant. He rarely went to his place, seeing as how there wasn't really anything for him there, but he did go to see Rei when he could.

Unfortunately, she was usually in the Senate, as there was always debating over the war. But he did get to see her for a little while each time he was there. It wasn't enough for either of them, but it was better than nothing. Rei would have gladly taken time off from the Senate, but she was needed there. She didn't speak much, but when she did everyone listened. She was usually the person who could put an end to heated debates, because when she voiced her opinion, people stopped to think. And usually, her opinion seemed like the wisest course of action.

And then there was the matter of Gendo Ikari. He was the main reason Shinji didn't go home when he was on Coruscant. He was either not home (which was when Shinji **did** go home) or there, but in a very unfriendly way. He didn't do or say anything mean, he just kind of radiated unpleasantness. But when day, about, two years into the war, Shinji found himself in the same room with the man he was forced to recognize as his father.

Shinji walked into the room. No one was home. 'Good," thought Shinji. 'I didn't want him to be here anyway. Now where did I leave that schedule?' Shinji and Rei had been planning to go to a play that day, and there was a couple of things Shinji wanted to take care of before then. He saw the paper on the coffee-table, and went to go pick it up. As he grabbed it, he heard a voice.

"Hello Shinji," the voice said. Shinji turned around to see his father. "How are you doing son?" he asked. Shinji was taken aback. Gendo had never shown any concern for him, much less called him 'son'.

"What do you want?" asked Shinji.

"I just wanted to see how you were," answered Gendo.

"Yeah right," retorted Shinji. "First, you're never around, leaving me on my own for thirteen years, and then you show up when I'm conveniently a respected captain? Did you suddenly remember that I existed?"

"No," said Gendo. "I recognize the fact that you existed before this meeting, and will exist for quite some time after this. But that's not why I'm here."

"Then why did you decide to come pay me a visit?" asked Shinji angrily.

"Just come with me," answered his father. Shinji followed him, wondering what he could possibly want. Gendo lead him to an elevator in the hallway of the apartment building. They got in, and instead of pressing a number, Gendo swiped a card in a small, well concealed crack. The elevator began to go down. After a while, Shinji realized that they had definitely passed the bottom floor of the building. The elevator came to a stop, and they stepped out into a room that Shinji had never seen before. It was actually a hallway, with a few doors on either side, and one large door at the end. "Remember the Accident?" asked Gendo as they walked down the hall.

"The one that killed mother?" asked Shinji. "How could I forget?"

"She died while working on a top secret project," said Gendo, "A project that she believed would help the galaxy." They came to the large door, which slid open. The room on the other side of the door was very dark. They stepped inside. "The project was codenamed Exploring Vehicular Automaton, also known as-" he flipped on the lights, "EVA." Shinji stared in awe at the device before him. It was a fourteen-foot tall, silver robot. It had what appeared to be rocket launchers on its shoulders, and blasters on its wrists, as well as what looked like a compact laser cannon on its chest.

"It's an exoskeleton," said Gendo. "You're mother designed it to be able to withstand incredibly harsh environments, as well as extensive physical damage. It is even unaffected by electricity. It also has jets in its feet and on its back, for limited flight."

"..." Shinji just stared at it for a few moments, then asked, "Why are you showing me this?"

"You're mother died in a test run of the EVA," said Gendo, seemingly ignoring the question. "When the war started, I made some modifications to it. It is now a weapon."

"That doesn't answer the question!" said Shinji angrily. "Why are you showing me this, this thing!" Gendo looked at him for a moment, with his usual hard expression.

"I want you to take this with you," said Gendo, "The next time you leave to fight." His expression softened, ever so slightly. "I may not act like it, but I care about you Shinji. You're the only thing I have left of Yui. You and this..." He looked at the EVA, angrily, "This damn machine." Shinji looked at his father in confusion. He'd never seen him like this.

"O-okay dad," said Shinji, "I'll take it."

"Thank you, son," said Gendo, "Stay safe when you're out there."

"Alright. I will."

After the play (which Shinji and Rei had both enjoyed), Shinji had the Eva loaded on the 501st capital ship. He had some misgivings about the mech, not knowing if he should trust it. He had mixed feelings about using the thing that had killed his mother. In the next few battles, Shinji avoided using it all together. Of course he didn't really need it, he was able to manage just fine without it. He did practice with it in the hanger though, so that if he ever had to use it, he would know how. It acted like an extension of his body. He piloted it from inside the chest. There was a screen in front of him, showing him what the EVA could see, and there were places for his arms and legs that were similar to sleeves. He would put his arms and legs inside, and any movement he made, the EVA would make. The jet-pack was similar to the clones', so he had no trouble figuring it out.

Still, he didn't use it on the battlefield.

He didn't need it anyway.

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Ok folks(standard greeting)! I know, I know, it was short. But hey, it's a time skip, and It was intended to be short. It's a summary of events after all, with only a small detailed part. Yes, I know it's awfully soon to be posting another chapter. I know I just posted one yesterday, but I want to make it up to you guys for having to wait so long for that last shudders in disgust chapter. (If you couldn't tell, I didn't enjoy that one too much(but it had to be done, as i said)

And how about that Gendo/Shinji moment huh? Originally, Gendo wasn't going to display much emotion, not even that little tiny bit. But I remembered that 1. he is human after all (right?) and 2. since this is an AU, he could be slightly, well, nicer than usual. This chapter was really me finding a way to insert the EVA in my own special way. WARNING! It won't be playing a major role till much later.

Hope you enjoyed it!


	6. the battle of mygeeto: EVA field test

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Yay! Thanks to the time skip, I can write for a battle that I really now about! Woo! This takes place just a little bit before the start of Episode III. And guess what, more snow!

P.S: thanks for all of the reviews! You guys make it all worth while!

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'Man,' thought Shinji as he looked across the bridge, 'This is almost as bad as Rhen Var.' The 501st had been on Mygeeto for three days. The droids had a strong advantage here, as there was not only an energy grid that could provide shields for them, as well as energy, but there was also a droid factory. Well, at least on this side of the planet. That was one of their missions on Mygeeto: take out the factory and energy grids. Shinji would have loved to call in an air strike, but there were two things stopping him. One was that there were still innocent people on this planet, being forced to work for the droids. And two was that they had another mission here as well. The Supreme Chancellor had received information that there was a powerful energy crystal on Mygeeto, in fact that was what was powering the energy grid. Shinji wasn't told why Palpatine wanted it, just that it was necessary for something.

The real reason Shinji disliked fighting on Mygeeto, was that it snowed almost all the time. He had discovered on Rhen Var that he didn't like fighting in the snow. It constantly blurred his helmet's vision, and always seemed to get in the way of his scope. Luckily, it wasn't snowing very hard today. He looked across the bridge, and sighed at seeing the number of droids that were preparing to attack. There was a building on the other side that would certainly serve as an excellent base of operations. But it was guarded by at least fifty droids, two high-powered turrets, and an AAT. Shinji hopped into a nearby AT-RT. Then he started blasting.

The AT-RT had two blasters and a grenade launcher, both of which Shinji made good use of. He made his way across the bridge, narrowly avoiding both rockets and sniper fire. Commander Red lead a large group of clones, about twenty, right behind Shinji, giving him some much needed support. Shinji made it to the building, which was guarded by two magna guards and a droideka. Shinji launched a grenade, and then hopped out of the vehicle. The grenade exploded, taking out one magna guard and the droideka. The remaining magna guard rushed at Shinji, spinning its staff. Shinji fired at it, but it blocked the blast. It reached Shinji and brought the staff crashing down. Shinji rolled out of the way, and shot the staff. He shot the center of the staff, hoping to short it out.

The magna guard dropped the now-useless staff, and pulled out its R1-99 BULLDOG. It fired several small rockets at Shinji, which he was able to dodge. Shinji blasted at the droids head. The droid didn't have time to move and the shot hit, blowing its head clean off. Shinji smirked under his helmet. Then the droid fired again! Shinji, in shock, just barely avoided the shot, and the last rocket's explosion sent him rolling across the floor. Shinji got up and blasted at the magna guards chest. It hit, but still couldn't stop it. The droid kept firing, and Shinji kept dodging. Shinji tossed a thermal detonater at it, hoping fervently that it would work. The grenade went inside the hole in its chest and, moments later, exploded. Bits of droid went flying everywhere.

The other clones made their way to the base, keeping a path clear for supplies. Then, Shinji got a call. "Master Ki-Adi-Mundi is finally arriving," Alex said over the communicator. "However, the droids have found it out, and are planning to use the turrets to blow his ship out of the sky. We need you to take out those turrets."

"On it,"replied Shinji. He got back on the AT-RT, and made his way to the center of the bridge. He fired at the West turret first. He launched a grenade immediately, and the turret exploded. It had been easy, as the turret had been aiming upwards. Unfortunately, the droid in the other turret had heard the explosion, and was now taking aim at Shinji. Shinji tried firing at it, but couldn't get an accurate shot in, do to the fact that he had to move while firing. The droid missed him, and Shinji took advantage of the turret's recharging time. Shinji shot another grenade, and it blew the turret up quite nicely. Just in time too, for Ki-Adi-Mundi to see. Shinji made his way over to the Jedi Master to explain the situation.

"You say that there's an energy grid AND a droid factory here?" asked Mundi.

"Yes sir," said Shinji. "If we could take out the energy grid, the factory would be temporarily crippled. But there are two shield walls between us and the grid. We've tried firing everything we have at it, but nothing works. Not even fire from the main cannon of the AT-TE."

"Do you have any idea what the shields weakness would be?" asked the Jedi.

"Well," answered Shinji, "The shield's generator is right on the other side of it. We've tied to get grenades over it, but it's probably to high to get a grenade over."

"Probably?" asked Mundi.

"Well," explained Shinji, "Everyone who's tried was killed before the made it to the wall. Even if they were in an AT-RT." Ki-Adi-Mundi thought about this for a few moments.

"I can probably get over the walls," he said, "But there are too many droids for me alone to handle. I'd ask you to help, but that wouldn't work. According to you, every clone who's tried has gotten killed. If only we had something that not only protected you, but could get over the wall."

"..."

"Something wrong Shinji?" asked the Jedi.

"Well..."

"Well what?"

"Well," said Shinji, "I have something that might work, but..."

"But what lad?" asked Mundi, perplexed. "What's wrong?"

"The one thing I have that would work, is something called an EVA," answered Shinji. "But I don't think I can use it."

"Why?" asked Mundi, "Is it that you can't pilot it or-"

"I can pilot it," said Shinji. "I just can't use it for personal reasons."

"What reason could you possibly have?" asked the Jedi.

"... It killed my mother." Mundi looked at Shinji sympathetically.

"Oh," he said, "My dear boy, I-I'm sorry. If you don't want to use it, then I guess-" Suddenly there was an explosion! It knocked Shinji and Ki-Adi-Mundi to the ground. Shinji looked in horror and shock to where the explosion had happened and saw a small group of clones, some dead and the others dying. That was all Shinji needed to see.

"That's it!" Shinji said angrily. "I'm not going to sit by and watch more of my men die! Wether I like it or not, I'm using that EVA!" He got to his feet an ran over to the LAAT that carried his EVA. The chest opened and he ripped off his helmet and hopped in. The Eva ran over to Ki-Adi-Mundi. "Let's do this," Shinji said. Ki-Adi-Mundi nodded and ignited his lightsaber. He and Shinji rushed across the bridge and toward the first shield. The Jedi Master Leapt over the shield wall, and Shinji activated his jets. Ki-Adi-Mundi pointed his lightsaber straight down and landed on the shield generator, destroying it. Shinji landed and began firing at the droids.

The droids were scared, or as close to scared as droids could get. They had never seen a droid this big, and certainly not one that was fighting _for_ the clones instead of against them. They attacked the EVA in vain, trying to stop the mechanized monstrosity. It's armor made the laser blasts useless, and it dodged the rockets with ease. Shinji say a large group of droids in one area and fired the chest-cannon at them. It decimated the droids as well as leaving a large scorch mark on the ground. The droids sent three AAT's at him. The EVA's right arm ripped through the first tank, causing it to explode. The EVA was undamaged by the explosion, and kicked the second tank, sending it flying into the droids. It too exploded. The third tank fired at the EVA. It hit it straight in the chest. The EVA suffered some minor damage, but Shinji almost fainted from the force of the impact. He shook it off, and then tore the tank in two, sending each half through the droid ranks.

Ki-Adi-Mundi just stood there and watched, stunned. That thing was unstoppable. Mundi came to his senses in moments however, and joined Shinji in the fray. Clones were now rushing into the area, helping to beat back the enemy. They too had been mesmerized by the EVA's performance. The clones were lead by Red and Alex, who were now using large chain-guns. The chain-guns fired faster than blasters, but there was a delay after pulling the trigger. All in all though, it was still a handy weapon. They ran over to the EVA, and started shooting at any droids Shinji missed. Ki-Adi-Mundi meanwhile, made his way to the next shield wall. He destroyed the generator the same way as before. Then he contacted Shinji.

"Okay," he said, "The second shield wall is offline. We can now proceed to the energy grid. Shinji was about to answer, when an explosion suddenly rocked the ground beneath him. A droid had thrown a grenade in his direction. Shinji looked down, and saw Red and Alex on the ground, unmoving. Shinji couldn't believe it. His two best friends, gone. Then Shinji looked back up and saw the engineer-droid who had thrown the grenade, and got angry.

"Uh-oh," said the droid. It began to run. Shinji picked up his fallen friends' weapons, one chain-gun in each hand. He puled the triggers. In moments, bullets were tearing through the droids body, reducing it to an unrecognizable pile of scrap metal. Shinji looked at the former droid, knowing that even though it had been destroyed, his friends were still gone. He lowered his head and closed his eyes trying to accept it. It didn't work. Suddenly he got a call on his communicator.

"Shinji!" the voice said, "Hurry up and go! We'll be fine!" Shinji opened his eyes. He saw Red helping Alex to his feet. "The grenade was to far away from us to kill us," said Red, "It just knocked us out for a bit. Now take those Chain-guns and move!"

"Yes sir!" said Shinji. Shinji began running towards Ki-Adi-Mundi to give him some much needed support. The Jedi Master was trapped in a sea of droids. "And one more thing," said Reds voice over the communicator, "You don't address us by 'sir' anymore. You're a commander now."

"Okay," said Shinji. He reached Mundi and began firing the chain-guns. With his help, the Jedi was soon able to beat back the droids. They started advancing towards the energy grid. When they got there they saw, to their dismay, that not only did the grid have a small army of droids surrounding it, but it was also protected by shields. Ki-Adi-Mundi noticed a small gap high above the shield, about twenty feet from the ground.

"I'm going for that," he said, pointing to the space. "Cover me."

"Yes sir!" said Shinji. Mundi rushed through the droids, slicing through the ones in his way. He jumped up through the gap, and landed inside. He began attacking the shield generator which had another, weaker shield. Shinji provided an excellent distraction. He used the rocket launchers in his shoulders and sent five rockets into the enemy ranks. He started firing the chain-guns and his wrist-blasters simultaneously. He also fired his chest-cannon, which sent a huge laser-beam ripping through the droid ranks. The droids fired at him, but to no avail. Their lasers bounced harmlessly off of the EVA's armor.

Suddenly, the shields went down! Ki-Adi-Mundi rushed out of the building and began slicing through droids left and right. Then, the droids got more trouble. The clone forces had managed to fight their way through. They were being lead by a slightly banged up Red. Alex had suffered more serious injuries and had needed to stay behind for medical attention. The droids were outmatched. As Shinji was fighting, he suddenly remembered the energy crystal. He went inside the energy grid tower and started looking for it. His sensors detected it, but he couldn't see it anywhere. He looked around in confusion. Then he realized that his sensors were pointing directly to the crippled energy core. Shinji ripped it open, and there it was.

He grabbed it and ran out. Ki-Adi-Mundi had moved farther north, so luckily he wasn't there. Chancellor Palpatine had specifically said that he didn't want the jedi to know about it. Shinji ran back to their primary base, crushing droids as he went. He was nearly there, when he saw three destroyer droids in his way. They were right between him and the LAAT. They began Firing at the EVA. 'I don't have time for this,' thought Shinji. He kicked one droideka like a soccer ball, sending it flying. He smashed the next one flat into the ground. He picked up the third one (who's shields had run out) and crushed it. He continued to the gunship, delivered the crystal, and the gunship took off. Mission accomplished. The 501st could finally leave.

Shinji was glad. It was time for his annual two-week vacation. He couldn't wait to get back to Coruscant.

Ki-Adi-Mundi was making his report to the Jedi Council. "How did the battle go?" asked a holographic Mace Windu.

"We were successful," said Mundi. "In fact we are now ready to move onto the other side of the planet. There's another droid factory rumored to be in the northeast hemisphere of the planet. A large one too."

"Okay," said Mace, "Do you have anything else to report?"

"Yes," answered Mundi. "That boy, Shinji. He was really the one who gave us this victory. I was certain we would lose, but he had a secret weapon with him. He called it an EVA, I think. It was a large, powerful droid-like thing."

"Really?" said a holographic Yoda. "Called us yesterday he did. Problems they were having, he said."

"Well," said Mundi, "He didn't use it until today. He said he hadn't wanted to because it had caused the death of his mother, poor lad. In fact he only used it after seeing several clones get killed by a grenade. Said he didn't want to see anyone else die."

"Very noble, the boy is," said Yoda.

"Yes," agreed Mace, "Especially by going against his beliefs for the greater good." There was silence for a moment or two. "Do you think it's time?" asked Mace.

"I say so," said Ki-Adi-Mundi. "He's more than earned it."

"Hmm," said Yoda. "Another test he needs. Then decide I will. But earned it he has."

"Agreed," said Windu.

"Same here," said Mundi. "Ki-Adi-Mundi, out."

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Oh yeah! How was that? Shinji finally used the EVA in battle! But what was that energy crystal for? And what were those three Jedi Masters talking about? The answer to some of these questions, as well as the question 'How did Shinji manage to jump a 20 foot drop without injuring himself?' is coming up next time.

Well, I hoped you all enjoyed that, cause the next chapters gonna take a while. I've decided to step away form single-event chapters. I'm going to start putting things together, as long as they happen on the same planet.

c:\MyFiles\starwarseva.wpd

Able-1707


	7. coruscant

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: alright here it comes! My longest chapter yet, a.k.a super-chapter! Do-do-doo!

P.S: once again, thanks for all of the reviews!

Oh, and lots of POV changes. But by POV, I just mean that the narration is more focused on that character. I just don't have a term for it. Yet...

And, I gotta say something for the OOCness in this chapter. Shinji: a little bit braver in social situations, what with the being shot at constantly. That'd make me braver. Rei: a little better at expressing emotions because she wasn't born to be a tool. She still doesn't show too much emotion yet though, don't worry. (subject to change)

But hey, OOC is nothing more than character development.

And if the chapter seems kind of rushy, just imagine it slow. Works for me.

Let the chapter commence!

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Derren Zakdam was growing impatient. This new client of his had said to be here at ten sharp. It was pushing eleven. He looked down from his perch on top of the building at the busy Coruscant traffic. 'Don't these people ever sleep?' he thought to himself. The building he was on was right across the street from an apartment complex. Normally it wouldn't stand out to him, but since it was an apartment complex for exclusive use of the Galactic Senators. He began to wonder why his client had wanted to meet him here for. "Where is he?" he asked out loud.

"Right here," said a menacing voice. Derren spun around and came face to face with his new employer.

"Why are you so late?" asked Derren angrily.

"I was here the whole time," answered the hooded figure. "I was testing you. I wanted to see how dedicated you were. Now, let's discuss this job." Derren was an assassin by trade. His first job had been to take out a Mandelorian. He had succeeded and he had even taken the Mandalorians armor, which he had painted black and red. He was known all over the criminal underworld, as one of the greatest assassins ever. He wasn't the best, true. But he was by no means the worst.

"Alright," said Derren, "Who is it you want me to kill, and how much are you paying me for it?"

"There is a certain senator who is disrupting my plans," said the robed man. "Her name is Rei Ayanami. Her room is right there." The man pointed to a window. Derren looked, in time to see a blue-haired girl falling asleep.

"Her?" asked Derren, surprised.

"Yes," answered the man. "She's dangerous to my plans. Everything she says goes against me. Every time she speaks, I see my plans start to come undone. I want her eliminated." Derren looked back at the girl. He thought for a moment.

"Alright," he said, "How much are you going to pay?"

"For her death you shall receive one hundred thousand Republic Credits."

"Alright," said Derren. He took aim with his sniper-rifle.

"Not yet!" exclaimed the hooded man. "I want you to watch her for three days. You need to see her daily routine, to try to see when the time is best to strike. You must also learn the holes in the building's security systems. Also, if you can make it look like an accident, I will pay you fifty thousand credits more."

"One hundred fifty thousand," said Derren.

"Yes," said the man. "I will pay you a grand total of two hundred thousand if you can pin the blame on someone else."

"Two hundred thousand!" exclaimed Derren. "That's more than I've made on a single job in years." Derren stood quietly, thinking it over. Then, the hooded man reached inside of his robe. He pulled out a black circular thing. "What's that?" asked Derren.

"It's a collar," said the man. "It has a camera and microphone. I want to be able to see the job done. It will activate in exactly 72 hours. With it, I can monitor your progress." He handed it to Darren. Darren looked at him curiously.

"You want me to wear that?" he asked.

"Yes," said the man. "Like I said, I want to see it. And hear it."

"Alright," said Derren, taking the collar. He slipped it over his helmet and on to its neck. He tried to adjust it. "It's a little tight," he said.

"Doesn't matter," said the man. "At least it won't get in the way." He began to walk away.

"Wait!" called Derren. The man stopped. "Before you go, I'd like to know the name of my employer." The man was silent for a moment.

"... Call me," he said, "Darth Sidious." At that, he disappeared into the shadows.

'Oh great,' thought Derren, 'I'm working for a nut-job who thinks he's some kind of sith. Still money's money.' He looked back at the apartment window, and saw Rei's sleeping form. 'Shame she has to die, pretty young girl like that.' He walked away and went to go make his plans. At that same time, Ki-Adi-Mundi was only a day away from joining the clones on Mygeeto.

8888

Shinji was happy. They were almost to Coruscant after a daylong trip. He was glad that they no longer had to stay cramped up in that little LAAT. The capital ship they were in was much roomier. He was looking forward to his two weeks off. He needed a break from being shot at. Plus, he wanted to see Rei again. They were able to communicate once in a while, but it wasn't enough for him. When he got home, he was finally going to do it. He was going to ask her out. And not just on an outing, like going to the zoo or seeing a play. He was going to ask her to dinner, dancing, the works. Oh how he hoped to the Force that he wouldn't chicken out of it.

'I'm pathetic,' he thought. 'I can go into dangerous battles, in which I could die five different ways in a matter of seconds, but I'm afraid to ask a girl out? Ah, man.' Over the next few minutes, he wondered and worried over how he would ask her. Luckily He didn't have to dwell on it to long. He was soon distracted by something else. The alarm started blaring! An announcement came over the intercom.

"All pilots and marines to your ships!" the voice said. "Repeat, all pilots and Marines to your ships! We've just received word that the Supreme Chancellor has been captured by General Grievous! There is a large fleet of CIS capitol ships. All pilots and marines to your ships!" Shinji ran to the hanger. He looked around for a moment, found his Starfighter, and hopped in. He gave some orders over the intercom, and then took off. Shinji flew out of the hanger, and into the battle. He was amazed at what he saw. He had never seen so many capitol ships, neither Republic or CIS, in one place. Especially not when they were all shooting at each other.

Now, Shinji was a little bit unorthodox when it came to flying, or even fighting in general. He held a high rank but refused to wear the equipment that came with it, such as special helmets, or the kama (battle-skirt). He owned these things, but insisted on using the average clone armor. He reasoned that if he didn't look like a commander, the enemy wouldn't come after him like one. The same thing applied when he was piloting, albeit a bit different. He refused to wear the pilot outfits. He just didn't like them. However he would still take a pilots equipment, such as a fusion-cutter and time-bombs. He had also developed special strategies to take down capitol ships single handed.

Shinji flew through the battle-space. His on-board computer received all of his mission specs. His mission was to help Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi get aboard General Grievous' ship, the Invisible Hand. He was to do this by distracting droid fighters and possibly draw capitol ship fire. Luckily, Shinji knew how to do both in one motion. He spotted a CIS ship he liked, and started heading for it. Suddenly, red lasers shot past him. It was a vulture droid. Shinji turned around and gave chase. He fired at the droid narrowly missing. The vulture suddenly looped around and got behind Shinji. It fired, hitting Shinji in the left wing. The wing began smoking. 'Perfect,' thought Shinji. He wasn't being sarcastic.

The smoke blocked the vulture droid's field of vision! Shinji looped behind the droid and fired two missiles at it. They slammed into the vultures rear, and it went spinning. It went spinning, spinning, and then... BOOM! It exploded, leaving nothing more then floating scrap metal. Shinji got back on track and made his way to the droid capitol ship. He reached the ship, but then two large auto turrets began firing at him. He started spinning his ship around, causing the lasers to miss. He fired missiles at them. He destroyed one, but missed the other completely. Ironically though, he only missed because a tri-fighter had flown in front of it. 'Whatever works,' thought Shinji.

The droids couldn't have been more surprised when they suddenly saw an enemy Starfighter, not only boldly land in their hanger, but also open its cockpit. Shinji jumped out, and the cockpit closed. Shinji had made some modifications on the Jedi Starfighter. Whenever he was out of the vehicle a powerful shield (based on the ones he had seen on Mygeeto) covered the ship, protecting it from harm and hijacking. Unfortunately, it only worked when the ship wasn't flying. Shinji ran across the hanger. A droid marine was near a door on the other side. It tried firing at Shinji but couldn't get a clear shot. He kept zig-zagging. 'His movements are completely illogical,' thought the droid. 'Why must humans be so difficult!' It kept firing, hoping to stop him. But before the droid knew it, Shinji had reached him, and swung his gun like a clup at the droids head.

The droid went down, and Shinji entered the door. Inside was a room he was familiar with. It had a column in the middle (which was actually the computer controlling the auto-turrets outside) along with four chairs with control panels that controlled more turrets outside. There were also three doors in the room, each leading to a different vital system. And, as usual, it was crawling with droids. They saw him, but at first they didn't do anything. They hadn't expected such an intrusion, so they had no idea what to do. But some of the more sensible droids started firing, while the others just got back to work. Shinji fired right back. He took out three droids, then headed for the door on the right. He ran in and found the engine cooling system. He placed a time bomb on it, and ran like hell. He rolled through the door, which shut just in time to shield him from the explosion. He fired at another droid, an engineer, and made his way to the next door, which was located at the far side(compared to the entrance) of the room. He ran in, and found the shield generator. He set two time bombs, one on each side of the generator, and ran out of the room.

Now by this time, all of the droids had figured out what to do. As soon as Shinji came out of the room, at least forty blasters were turned on him. They fired. Shinji quickly rolled...Forward!

The droids were taken aback by the illogical maneuver, and even more surprised that it worked. Shinji rolled forward, placed a bomb on the auto-turret computer/column, and ran for the last door, which was on the left side of the room. He got inside just in time to avoid the explosion. He stopped to catch his breath. He knew he would need it, because this was the last critical system that needed to be destroyed. It was the life-support room. He knew that after he destroyed it, he would only have minutes to get out of the ship before he ran out of air. He had always wondered why these ships even had life-support, its not like the droids needed air.

He set a time bomb on the large computer at the other side of the room, and ran out. He just dodged the explosion. True, this strategy was risky, but it always worked. Shinji re-entered the main room, which was now a scorched mess. 'Those time bombs are small,' thought Shinji, 'But they get the job done.' He ran out into the hanger, nine minutes to go. Meanwhile, during Shinji's sabotage, a couple of super battle droids had been attempting to destroy Shinji's Starfighter. They were almost ready to give up from sheer boredom (yes they **can** feel that) when Shinji showed up. They shot at him. 'Only two?' thought Shinji, 'Usually there's a lot more. Oh well.' He took them down no problem and hopped into his ship (well, he stopped to mfix his wing first).

He flew out of the hanger, and headed straight up (up relative to the top of the CIS ship). As he went, he radioed some nearby ARC-170's. "Pilots," he said over the communicator, "This is Commander Shinji." He gave him his position. "I need you to take out the communications array," he said. "I'm going after the command bridge, but I won't be able to take it out fast enough. I need you to take out the array to keep them from calling reinforcements. Alright?"

"Sir yes sir!" answered a clone, the squad's leader. They flew over to the ship and locked on to the communication array. In the meantime, Shinji was flying at top speed several hundred meters above the control bridge, and still going higher. He was about to perform a move that the 501st had patented and named after him: The Shinji. He flew to over 1,000 meters above the control bridge, and then made a sharp u-turn. He locked onto the control bridge and slowed his ship down considerably. He began firing missiles at it. However even with the shields down, it still took several shots. He slowed down so that he could get several shots in before having to pull up. He fired round after round at his target, but it refused to be destroyed. He pulled up at the last minute, and made another pass around. He took one last shot, and the bridge exploded! The whole ship was shaken by the impact and the explosions. It started slowly moving down, towards two droid-control ships.

Shinji fired at the ship some more, helping to add to the speed. The nearby squad of clones who he'd asked to destroy the communications array followed his example, and began blasting the ship as well. The ship built up considerable speed, and kept closing the distance between it and the two droid-control ships. Shinji fired at it one more time, then pulled back to watch. The ship went ramming into the other two, causing a large explosion that destroyed all three ships. Several nearby droid fighters suddenly shut down, and some capitol ships lost most of their crew. That provided quiet an opening for the two jedi. They flew into General Grievous' ship. After a long while, The Invisible Hand was shot in half by a Republic ship, and started its decent towards the planet.

8888

Shinji stood by, listening to Mace Windu and Chancellor Palpatine talk. "General Grievous will run and hide like he always does," said Mace Windu, "He's a coward."

"But with Count Dooku dead, he is the leader of the droid army," said Chancellor Palpatine, "And I assure you that the Senate will vote to continue the war as long as Grievous is alive."

"Then the Jedi Council will make finding Grievous our highest priority," answered Mace. They began walking down the Corridor. Shinji followed them, hoping to speak to Master Windu. He had landed shortly after Anakin. As he was leaving, he saw Anakin and Padme in the shadows. He smiled. He and Rei had known their secret for a while now. Shinji was just glad that they were happy together. Soon enough, Master Windu took his leave of the Supreme Chancellor and headed for a transport that would take him back to the Jedi Temple. He saw Shinji following him, and stopped. "Oh, Shinji," said Mace. "Could you come with me to the Temple?"

"Um, okay," said Shinji. He wondered what Master Windu wanted. He got on the transport, and they were off. Minutes later, they arrived at the Temple. Master Yoda was there to greet them. "Ahh, Shinji," said Yoda. "Finally back you are, hmm?"

"Yes master Yoda," said Shinji, bowing respectfully.

"Something we have for you here," said Yoda, handing Shinji a bundle. Shinji opened it up curiously. It contained a lot of metal parts, a bit of leatherlike stuff, and a blue crystal.

"What's this for?" Shinji asked perplexed.

"A test it is," Yoda said. He lead Shinji to a table.

"What kind of test?" asked Shinji.

"We just want to see what you can build with that stuff," said Master Windu. "It's a test of your ingenuity."

"Um, okay," said Shinji, still confused. He laid the contents of the bundle down on the table. He stared at them for a while, wondering exactly what he was supposed to do. He kept staring at them. Then suddenly, blueprints seemed to form in his mind. As if in a trance, Shinji began to build. He just started putting parts together, as if on instinct. Yoda and Mace watched with interest as Shinji worked. In a matter of minutes, Shinji came out of his trance. He was holding a shiny metal cylinder, that looked somewhat familiar. It was all metal except for a black handgrip, and a red button. "Is this what I think it is?" asked Shinji.

"Think it is a lightsaber do you?" asked Yoda. Shinji nodded. "Then correct you are." Shinji stared in wonder at the weapon he had just created.

"Go one," said Mace, "Try it out." Shinji activated it. A brilliant light-blue beam shot out of the silver handle. The feeling it created in Shinji's hand was incredible.

"Why did you have me build a lightsaber?" asked Shinji, still gazing at the blade.

"Well," explained Mace Windu, "We felt that you deserved this, as a sign of appreciation from all of the Jedi. You've been a great help to all of us."

"But why did you have me build it?" asked Shinji, deactivating the lightsaber.

"A jedi tradition it is," explained Yoda. "Build their own lightsabers, a padawan must. If handed down the lightsaber is, then taken apart and rebuilt it must be."

"A lightsaber is only as good as the one who makes it," said Mace. "We had you build it, because that is the true way to earn a lightsaber." Shinji admired the lightsaber again. "But," warned Mace Windu, "It must be kept a secret."

"From everyone?" asked Shinji.

"Not everyone," answered the Jedi Master. "You can tell other jedi, that's not a problem. But keep it a secret from the clones, the Chancellor, and the public in general. It must only be used in emergencies, is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" said Shinji.

"Good," said Yoda. "Dismissed you are! Go on!" Yoda waved him off. Shinji saluted again. He saw Anakin down the hallway, and ran over to greet him, and show him the lightsaber. The two Jedi Masters watched him go. Yoda sighed. "If only sensed him sooner we did."

"Do you think we should tell him?" asked Windu.

"No," said Yoda. "If know he does, then training he will want. Far too old he is."

"It's a pity," said Windu, watching Shinji and Anakin talk. "He could have made a pretty good jedi."

8888

Shinji had a lot of things to get ready. He was planning on asking Rei to dinner. He paced the floor, thinking about how he was going to ask her. After a while, he figured he had the best way of asking her. He was going to take it slow, start up a conversation first. Then he was going to ask her. He picked up the phone, and dialed her number. After a few rings, she picked up. "Hello," she said, in her usual monotone. At hearing her voice, Shinji's plan went right out the window.

"Um," he started off nervously, "H-hi Rei."

"Shinji?" asked Rei. "You're finally back?"

"Yeah," answered Shinji. "I, uh, I w-was just wondering, uh..."

"Yes?"

"W-would like to have dinner with me tonight?"

"..."

"If you don't want to, then-" Shinji began, his hopes dashed.

"Yes."

"What?" asked Shinji.

"Yes," repeated Rei. "I will have dinner with you."

"Really?" asked Shinji.

"Yes," answered Rei. "That sounds most... Pleasant."

'Yes!' thought Shinji happily. "What time should I pick you up?"

"I have a meeting today in the Senate," answered Rei. "It lets out at 7:00."

"Alright," said Shinji. "See you then." Shinji was relieved. He had managed to ask Rei out without totally screwing up. Plus, 7:00 left him plenty of time. He still had a lot of things that needed to be done. For example: when he looked in his closet, he realized that he didn't have any clothes that hadn't been part of his school uniform. Plus, the fridge was almost empty. 'Why doesn't he ever go shopping?' thought Shinji. He also had a couple more things he needed to take care of.

He left his apartment and called a taxi. "Where are ya' headed mac?" asked the driver.

"Weapons shop," said Shinji.

"Weapons shop?" asked the driver, "You aint plannin' on robbin' a bank or somethin' are ya?"

"No," said Shiinji.

"Whatever," said the driver. He drove Shinji to the nearest gun shop.

"Could you stay here?" asked Shinji, "I have another stop or two."

"Ok," said the driver, "Just hurry up, I aint your personal driver." Shinji walked into the store. During the war, Shinji had primarily fought droids. However, he had been sent to planets were he was fighting living things. Shinji couldn't bring himself to fire on a sentient being (except for Geonosians. His first impression of them had been, 'giant bugs who want to hurt and/or kill me.'). So he was here at the weapons shop, looking for a weapon that wouldn't kill his opponents. To his luck, he found three different guns, all tranquilizers. One resembled his DC-15A, and the other was very similar to the new DC-15S. The last one was a lot like his DC-17m. He purchased all three and headed back to the cab. "Where to next?" asked the driver.

"Any mens' clothes stores around here?" asked Shinji.

"Sure," said the driver. He drove Shinji to the store and once again, waited as Shinji did his shopping. He didn't buy much, just a few shirts in different colors, a couple pairs of jeans, and two jackets. Shinji got back in the cab. "Anywhere else?" asked the driver.

"Just back to my apartment," said Shinji. The driver took him home, Shinji payed the man, and then he started back towards his room. Once he got there, he realized he had forgotten to go grocery shopping. 'Oh man,' he thought. 'There goes my plans for making dinner.' He thought for a while, wondering if he should head out again. He pondered for a while. Just then, the mail arrived. Shinji sifted through it. 'Bill, bill, magazine, bill, you've been selected for our sweepstakes, bill, and-' Shinji stopped as he came to the last item. 'Hello, what's this?' It was an add for a new restaurant that had just opened up. Shinji had heard about this place. It was supposed to be pretty good. 'Alright!' thought Shinji. 'And it's close to here too.' He called the restaurant and made a reservation. He managed to get a spot, which was fairly lucky. With the worry of food now out of his mind, Shinji relaxed a little, and wondered what he should wear.

8888

Shinji waited outside the Senate building. It was almost 7:00. Shinji was still nervous. After all, he hadn't seen Rei in a while. Plus, he was still socially inept. His time on the battlefield had given him an escape from the fact that he was still the shy, awkward boy that he had always been. He really hoped he didn't do anything stupid. He waited for a bit longer, staring at the sun setting in the distance. "Wow," said Shinji out loud, "It's beautiful."

"Yes," said a voice behind him. He turned around to see none other than Rei, staring into the sunset as well. Shinji couldn't help but notice how pretty she looked in the sunlight.

"Hi Rei," said Shinji.

"Hello Shinji," said Rei, giving just a hint of a smile. "Where will we be eating?"

"Some new restaurant just opened up," said Shinji. "I'd make dinner for us myself, but I forgot to go grocery shopping today. Is that okay?"

"Yes," said Rei. Shinji called a taxi. The cab pulled up and they were just about to get in, when Shinji saw the driver.

"Not you again!" said the driver.

"Oh, uh, hi," said Shinji.

"Whatever, just get in kid," said the driver, not believing that he was stuck with this guy again. "Where are you heading to this time?" Shinji told him the restaurants name. The man started driving. They got there in about ten minutes. Shinji payed the man, again, and he drove off. The inside of the restaurant was very nice. It was neatly decorated, with a lot of plant life and intricate carvings here and there. There was a man standing behind a podium near the entrance.

"May I help you?" the man asked.

"Uh, do you have a table for two?" asked Shinji.

"Do you have a reservation?" the man asked.

"Yes," said Shinji, "Under Shinji Ikari." The man looked down the list.

"Ahh, yes," said the man. "Right this way." He lead them to a table that had a particularly nice view of the city's skyline. "A waiter shall be with you shortly." The man left and walked back to his podium. Shinji and Rei just sat there silently for a while. After a few minutes, Shinji decided to try starting up a conversation.

"So," he said, "How have you been?"

"Fine," said Rei. "How have you been?" Shinji actually had to think about that one for a minute.

"Generally fine," he said.

"...?" Rei gave him a look that said, "What do you mean 'generally?'"

"Well," said Shinji, "I mean I've been fine besides, you know, being shot at."

"Oh," said Rei quietly. The waiter arrived to take their drink order. They both just ordered water. The waiter handed them each menu's, and then went to go get their drinks. Shinji looked in the menu. It contained a large number of soups and salads. It had other items as well, but it primarily served soup or pasta. The waiter came back, delivered their drinks, and took their orders.

"What will you have?" the waiter asked Rei.

"I'll have the Saimin," said Rei.

"With or without meat?" asked the waiter.

"None, thank you," said Rei.

"And what will you have?" the waiter asked Shinji

"Miso Ramen," he replied, "With black pepper if you could."

"Alright," said the waiter, jotting their orders down. "And will either of you be taking a salad?"

"Watercress," they said in unison. The waiter nodded and walked towards the kitchen. Shinji looked at Rei. "You like watercress too?" he asked

"Yes," answered Rei. Shinji made a mental note of it. They sat their for a bit, neither of them knowing what to say. Rei noticed that Shinji was still wearing his jacket. "Aren't you hot in that?" she asked.

"It is kinda warm in hear," answered Shinji, taking the brown jacket off. Underneath that, he was just wearing a short-sleeved white polo. Rei couldn't help but notice Shinji's arms, which had grown a bit more muscular during his time at war. Shinji saw Rei staring at him.

"What are you looking at Rei?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing," said Rei, blushing slightly. Luckily, the awkward situation didn't last long. The waiter arrived and served their food. "If you would like anything else," he said, "Feel free to ask." The waiter walked away, leaving them to their meals.

8888

'Where is she?' thought Derren. 'This job's supposed to go down tonight.She's usually home by now. I hope she didn't have an accident on the way over here. I won't get paid for that.' He looked impatiently at the time. 8:30. Well, he still had a few hours. Might as well go over the plan. Step 1: wait until she falls asleep. Step 2: Sneak into the room, using his electronic disrupter to knock out the security systems for a few minutes. Step 3: kill the girl and plant false evidence on someone. Anyone would do. It would be hours before anyone had realized what happened. By then he would be paid, and figuring out a way to spend the money. 200,000 credits. That was a very healthy sum of money.

8888

The meal had been delicious. Shinji and Rei had made some light conversation, mostly concerning the war. Rei had told Shinji that with only General Grievous left, the war would soon be over. In fact Palpatine had said so himself. She usually didn't trust him to much, she didn't know why. But at his cheerful prediction about the war, Rei forgot her feeling of unease towards him. At hearing Rei say all this, Shinji had grown quite happy. In exchange for her news, Shinji told her about his adventures on the battle-field. He tried to leave the more gory bits out. She was particularly interested in his two most recent battles. She loved how he told her about how he had brought down a capitol ship by himself. And she knew he wasn't bragging, because the Shinji she knew seemed incapable of thinking much of himself. And despite his time at war, he was still the shy awkward boy that she had harbored a crush on since middle-school.

After they were, done the waiter showed up. He handed Shinji the bill. It came out to one hundred and fifty credits. Well, the food **had** been good. Shinji payed the waiter. But the waiter saw his name and stopped him. "Wait," he said, "Are you **the** Shinji Ikari?"

"Um, yes," said Shinji, confused.

"**Commander** Shinji Ikari?"

"Yes."

"You sir, get your meal for free!" exclaimed the waiter.

"What!?" exclaimed Shinji.

"I'm from Mygeeto you see," the waiter explained. "When you were there, you saved my family! Just yesterday, they called me and said how you and the clones helped Ki-Adi-Mundi to push the droids out of the part of the planet where they lived. This meal is on me!"

"No, no," said Shinji, "I can't accept that. I'll pay for the meal no problem."

"No," said the waiter firmly. "It's the least I can do to repay you. Besides," he began to whisper in Shinji's ear. "I'm sure you could use that money on something nice for your date." Shinji blushed slightly at the suggestion, and the fact that he was so obvious, even to a total stranger. However, Shinji wouldn't accept a free meal, and payed half price (the waiter wouldn't let him pay anymore than that.). After he had payed, he and Rei left. During their time inside, they had grown used to the warm air. However, outside it had gotten a bit cold. It was this part of Coruscant's winter season, and while it never got too cold, it was cold enough. They were only outside for a minute before Rei began to shiver. She had unfortunately believed that day's weather forecast, which had said that the lowest that the temperature would get would be 80. Never trust the weatherman.

Shinji noticed Rei shivering and without really thinking about it, chivalrously put his jacket over her shoulders. "Hm? Why are you giving me you jacket?" Rei asked.

"Because you're cold,"explained Shinji.

"But will you not be cold?" she asked.

"No," said Shinji. "I've been in worse. That armor we used to have, at the start of the war, wasn't insulated to well. I found that out on Rhen Var." She smiled at him, and hugged the jacket closer around her. Shinji hailed a cab. Ironically, it was once again the same man that had been driving Shinji around earlier that day.

"Again?" he asked.

"Looks like it,"replied Shinji good-naturedly. They got into the cab.

"Where to?" asked the driver. Shinji directed him to the Senate apartment building. They rode in silence for a while. Rei cuddled up next to Shinji, just a little, to try and shake of the cold. Shinji didn't mind. In a few minutes, they were there. Rei got out and Shinji followed, just to walk her up to her room and say goodnight. But before he got out, the driver stopped him. "You know what kid? I got this strange feelin' about you." Shinji looked at him questioningly. "Now don't take it the wrong way," the driver continued. "It's a strange feelin', but it's a good feelin', like luck or something. Well back to the point. Us cab-drivers have got a little superstition, that doubles as a rule. If we get the same customer three times or more in a week, and we get that feeling, we introduce ourselves to 'em." He extended his hand. "The name's Steve." Shinji shook his hand.

"Shinji," he said. He got out of the cab, telling Steve to wait for a few minutes for him to come back. He walked over to Rei with a cheerful look on his face, what with the night being a success, and having made something of a friend out of the cab-driver. He walked Rei upstairs. They got to her apartment and he was about to say goodnight, when Rei stopped him.

"Shinji," she said, a strange tone in her voice.

"What?" asked Shinji, Perplexed.

"Could you, maybe, stay here with me tonight?" she asked.

Shinji looked at her, confused and sensing that something was wrong. "Sure," he said. "I'll be right back."

"Okay," she said, Pulling Shinji's jacket just a little bit tighter around her. He went downstairs to where Steve's car was waiting.

"Uh, Steve," he said, "I'm actually going to stay here tonight, so you can leave." Steve gave him a suspicious look.. Shinji saw it and said, "No! No! It's nothing like that!"

"Okay then," said Steve. "I'm just curious then. Why are you staying here?"

"I don't know," said Shinji, "She asked me to."

"Alright then," said Steve. "Just don't try anything, you know..." Shinji just gave him a look that said, "What kind of person do you think I am?" Steve laughed, "Don't worry, I don't really think you'd do that sort of thing. You seem like a nice kid." Shinji payed him, and then he drove off. Shinji quickly returned to Rei, who hadn't entered her apartment yet. She saw him, and a relieved look broke across her face. They entered the room, and Rei locked the door. Shinji looked at Rei, and could see that she was distressed.

"What's wrong Rei?" asked Shinji, sitting down on the couch. Rei sat down next to him.

"I've felt like someone has been watching me for the last three days, including today," she explained. I felt very uneasy. Tonight was the worst. After having such a nice evening with you, I came back here and felt it again. It feels like someone's right there, watching my every move." She leaned up against Shinji. Shinji was shocked. He had never seen Rei like this. Whatever was going on, it had to be bad. "And it's not the watching part that frightens me," Rei said. "I feel like there's something behind it. Not the thing watching, but the thing controlling it. I feel like something terrible is going to happen tonight." Shinji hated to see Rei like this. He put his arms around her, trying to comfort her

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'm here, and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, alright?"

"Thank you Shinji," said Rei. They stayed on the couch for a little while. Rei felt very safe in Shinji's arms, and Shinji was glad to be helping her. After about ten minutes, Rei was relaxed again and feeling much better. Then she noticed something shiny on Shinji's belt. "What's that?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh this?" said Shinji. "Masters Yoda and Windu gave me this today. I must have put it on my belt and forgot about it. They told me not to tell anyone what it was though. Sorry."

"That's okay," answered Rei. She had never seen a lightsaber handle up close, so she had no idea what it was. She figured it didn't matter though, so she didn't question him further. After a while, she yawned. She decided that it was time to go to bed. She got up and walked to her room. Shinji followed. We went in to her closet and started changing into a nightgown. Meanwhile, Shinji looked in the hall closet for an extra blanket and pillow. Then he 'changed' into his sleeping clothes. All he really did was take off his shirt. He never wore a shirt when he went to bed. He began making a makeshift 'bed' on the floor next to Rei's bed. Just then, Rei walked out of the closet and saw him.

"What are you doing?" asked Rei.

"Making a place for me to sleep," answered Shinji.

"You can't sleep there," said Rei.

"Oh," said Shinji, "I'll just make a place on the couch-"

"No Shinji," said Rei. "I meant that I wanted you to... sleep up here. With me." Shinji looked at her. Did he just here her say that? Was he dreaming? He must be dreaming. He pinched himself. Nope, not dreaming. "Is that alright?" asked Rei.

"S-sure," said Shinji nervously. She got into bed and he followed.

"Shinji?"

"Yes Rei?"

"Thank you for staying with me tonight." She cuddled up next to him. Once again, he didn't mind. He put his arms around her.

"No problem," said Shinji.

'He's so nice,' Rei thought. 'Inviting me to dinner, offering to pay for it even when it was offered to him for free, staying with me just because I asked him. Yes, he's nice." Soon enough Rei fell asleep, a peaceful look on her face. Shinji just watched her for a little while, until the night wove its spell on him as well, and he fell asleep.

8888

'Who's that now?' thought Derren as he looked into Rei's window. He couldn't see him too clearly. He could see Rei just fine, because the moonlight was directly on her face. But the boy with her was covered in shadow. He wondered who it could be, his mind coming up with a few theories. Finally, he came up with on that he figured was correct. This guy was probably her boyfriend. That also meant that he had a connection to her. Which left him in the perfect position for Derren to get payed the full 200,000 credits.

It had been 72 hours since he had received his job. The collar activated. "When are you starting?" asked Sidious' voice over the speakers

"In a few minutes," answered Derren. "I want to make sure they're definitely asleep first."

"They?" Sidious' camera zoomed in on the window. "Who is that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked the assassin. "He's the boy who murdered Senator Rei Ayanami and then committed suicide." Sidious took the hint. Derren watched the sleeping couple for a little while, then commenced his operation. He shot a grappling hook at the wall just above the window and swung over to the building. Luckily he was high enough above traffic so that no one could see him. He landed on the wall, right next to the window. He activated his disrupter, and waited for a minute or two. He used a scanner built into his helmet to check if it had worked. It had. He opened the window quietly, slipped in, and then closed the window. He looked around the room carefully, trying to find the best angle for the shot. He found a good spot, a patch of wall next to the window.

He pulled out his blaster, and attached a special silencer to it. He looked at his target. It was a real shame that she had to die. She would've had her whole life ahead of her. Then he looked at the boy sleeping with her. Too bad about him too. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, at least they could die together. He took one last pitying look at them, and then aimed. Business was business. He aimed directly at the point where Rei's spine met her skull. She wouldn't feel a thing. He began to pull the trigger. Suddenly, the boy jumped up and a blue beam appeared in his right hand!

8888

Shinji woke up, feeling like something was out of place. He looked out of the corner of his mostly closed eye, and saw a man in black armor attaching something to a gun. The man moved next to the window, and started to take aim. Shinji looked to where the gun was pointing. It was pointed straight at Rei. Shinji saw the man pulling the trigger and jumped up and ripped the lightsaber off of his belt. He activated it, blocking the shot. The laser deflected back and almost hit the stranger's head. He ducked to avoid it. He got up, and Shinji rushed at him. He tried to fire, but Shinji got there to fast and sliced the gun in half. He elbowed the man in a pressure point on his left shoulder, and then delivered a kick behind his left knee. The man almost lost his balance. Shinji then pinned his right shoulder to the wall, and held the lightsaber up to his neck.

"Who are you?" Shinji demanded. "Why are you here?" The man didn't answer. He tried to move his left arm, but he couldn't. It was completely numb. He tried to move his right arm, but it seemed locked in place. 'He must have me pinned by a pressure point,' Derren thought. Shinji repeated his question. "Who are you?"

"I aint tellin' you anything," said Derren.

"That's a shame," said Shinji, "Because I really don't feel like chopping limbs off." He moved the blade just a little closer to the assassin's neck to emphasize his point. 200,000 credits wasn't worth this.

"Alright," said Derren "I know when I'm beat. My name is Derren Zakdam. I was hired to kill Senator Rei Ayanami." Shinji heard a small gasp behind him. It was Rei. She had been roughly woken up when Shinji had jumped up. "I was going to get paid a large amount of money, and larger too if I could make it look like someone else did it. I was going to kill you both, then make it look like you'd killed her and then committed suicide." Shinji was appalled at the man's cool demeanor. He sounded like he didn't care at all about what he had been trying to do.

"Who hired you then?" demanded Shinji. Derren was silent for a moment, trying to recall the name.

"Oh," he said. "It was some nut saying that the senator there was interfering with his plans or something."

"The name?" Shinji asked.

"He said his name was Darth Sidi-GACK!" The man suddenly gave a violent heave. Shinji backed away immediately. Derren fell to his knees, and grabbed at his throat.

"Are you alright!?" Shinji asked, forgetting what the man had been trying to do.

"Ch-choking!" exclaimed Derren. 'I aint goin' down alone,' he thought. "His name was- was Darth-" The choking grew stronger. "Sidi-Sidiou..." He slumped to the floor. Shinji checked for the man's pulse... Nothing. Shinji looked back to see Rei, her hand over her mouth and on the verge of tears.

"He just- he just," Rei was speechless. She'd never seen someone choke to death. It was horrible. Tears began running down her face. Shinji ran over immediately to try and comfort her. She burried her head in his chest and cried. Shinji just held her there, trying to be strong. He was trying to keep from reacting the way Rei was. He had seen men die before, but this had been different. This was the most gruesome death he had ever witnessed. So he just stayed there, holding the crying blue-eyed girl, wondering what to do next.

8888

Sidious watched the whole scene in his lair. He kept wondering who that boy was. He was about to just shrug it off, when he saw the boy's attack. Was he a jedi? The way he had handled the assassin was incredible. Sidious was infuriated that his plans were still being interfered with by the jedi. He tried to get a good look at the mystery man but couldn't. The lightsaber was in the way. And the hum it was giving off made it a bit difficult to hear, let alone recognize the voice. But, as soon as he heard Derren about to give away the name of his employer, he pressed the button. The collar was for more than merely watching and listening. If the assassin failed, it was also a punishment. Sidious pushed the button, and the collar began squeezing. 'Oh well,' thought the Sith Lord, 'At least I can keep those credits. I didn't really want to waste them on that girl anyway.' He sat there, plotting. The girl was probably going to be under jedi guard for some time now. Oh well. His plan could succeed, even with interference...

8888

Shinji had called security up to see what had happened. Security came up, and Shinji told them exactly what had happened, omitting nothing except for the lightsaber bit. Security began investigating. They contacted the Jedi Temple. Mace Windu arrived shortly. Shinji told him exactly what happened. Master Windu listened to his every word. He wondered what to make of it all. After a while, he questioned Shinji. "Did the man say who he was working for?"

"Yes," said Shinji. "He was telling me his name when he started choking. The most he could tell me was Darth Sidiou."

"Hmm. Interesting," said Mace. "I wonder if that could be the Sith Lord we've been looking for. You said that the assassin called him 'Darth Sidiou'?"

"Yes," answered Shinji. Mace thought about this for a moment.

"Senator Ayanami is not safe here," Mace finally said. "I will escort her to the Jedi Temple." Rei hugged Shinji closer.

"I'm going to come with her," said Shinji. "I need to be there for her."

"Alright," Mace agreed. Shinji covered Rei with a blanket and picked her up. Mace led Shinji down to the main lobby of the building. They went outside and entered the transport that Master Windu had arrived in. Shinji got in and sat down. He looked at Rei, who was hanging onto him tightly. He hated to see her like this.

'Poor Rei,' thought Shinji. 'This whole thing must have sent her into shock. She isn't used to seeing people just die like that. I'm not like that just because I've seen death more. I don't know which is worse.' He hugged Rei tightly. "Don't worry," he said, "I won't let anything happen to you. Ever." Rei held onto him just a little bit tighter.

They arrived at the Temple and Mace Windu lead them to a guest-room. He bid them good night, and left to go discuss the night's events with Master Yoda. Shinji lay down on the bed, and pulled the covers over Rei and himself. She had calmed down a bit by now, and no longer seemed to be in shock. She still held onto Shinji tightly though. Shinji saw that she was still shaken though. "Rei?" She looked up at him. "Rei, don't worry," said Shinji reassuringly. "We're in the safest place in the galaxy. We're in the Jedi Temple. And I'm right here for you." He caressed he cheek softly. She looked at him.

"Thank you Shinji," she said. She fell asleep a few minutes later.

Shinji, however, had a difficult time getting to sleep. He wondered who could possibly be after Rei. He wondered why it was a Sith Lord of all people. And what plan could Rei possibly be disrupting. He stared up at the ceiling. After a long time, he too managed to get some sleep. But he had a nightmare. A nightmare of Derren choking. It was a nightmare that would haunt his dreams for years to come.

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ok! That was the longest chapter so far, and maybe, just maybe, the longest one in this story. Like I said, I'm putting all of the events that happen on one planet in the same chapter. I hope you liked it. That was the first space battle, and first date-themed thing that I've written, so sorry if it wasn't to good. And sorry if it felt a bit rushed while you were reading it. Sometimes I'm not so great in the detail department.

And I know, Rei very OOC. Here's a heads up for you: She will always be a bit OOC when she's around Shinji. And she reacted to Derren's death the way a lot of people probably would. I know I would if I saw someone being choked to death by an unseen force.

definitions:

DC-15A: standard clone assault rifle, from episodes II and III

DC-15S: new assault rifle in episode III, often mistaken for a simple blaster. Close to the storm-trooper type

DC-17m: commando pistol. I finally found the real name!

Happy New Year!


	8. felucia

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Alright, this chapter isn't going to be nearly as long as that last one. Stuff like that can only happen when more than one major event takes place on or near the planet. This chapter will be much shorter, because it's mostly battle. Oh, and don't get used to this frequent posting. It's only happening because of Christmas break. After it's over, I'll probably be down to only one chapter a week.

P.S. Thanks for all of the positive feedback you guys!

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Shinji didn't like this planet at all. He would actually rather have been back on Rhen Var in his old, poorly-insulated armor than be here. These last two months had been some of the worst in his life. The only time that had ever been worse was the day his mother died. And even that was almost starting to look better by comparison.

They had been on Felucia for two months now, but it had felt like two years. Every day was either a constant battle with droids, or constant lookout for them. And every night was a nightmare. Shrieks of horrible unseen creatures rent the night air like a knife, chilling Shinji and the clones to the bone. To top it off, every once in a while a clone would get sick from some unknown disease, and it would usually claim his life in less then 24 hours. And sometimes, a clone would just... vanish. No trace could ever be found, except for maybe a few bits of armor and a trashed gun. Two or three of Shinji's men actually went insane and ran off screaming into the forest. The only thing that kept Shinji and the rest from going crazy and joining them, was their Jedi Commander. Ayla Secura.

To the men in the 501st she was like an angel. She kept her cool at all times. She kept telling them that they would come out of this alive. She kept them... From going mad. Shinji was glad to have her around, knowing that without her they could end up like the 182nd Legion. They had landed here a few months ago, and hadn't been heard from since. Some of the clones said that a disease must have gotten them. However, Shinji believed it had been whatever made those noises at night.

Shinji thought about all of this as he stared into the campfire. After a while, he tried to get his mind off of the current situation. He let his mind wander back to his last day on Coruscant. He had been called that day to remind him that he was to be at the space port by 3:00 sharp and ready to leave. During his vacation, despite the attempt on Rei's life, he and Rei had managed to enjoy themselves. Before he left Shinji bought her a little something, just so she would have something of him to hold onto until he got back. It was a small teddy bear. It didn't have anything written on it, it didn't have a heart on its chest, it didn't have anything corny or cliche like that. It was just a plain teddy bear. Rei had seemed to like it. He had delivered the bear with a promise. "I'll be back in no time Rei," he had said. Then, he had packed up his tranquilizer guns, and headed out. Rei had been there to see him off. He wished he could be with her now, instead of this horrible jungle.

He kept thinking about it for a while, then went back inside his tent and tried to get some sleep. For some reason he felt peaceful, and wasn't able to think about the next day, which promised to be just as bad as any other day. After a while, he fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

888

Shinji woke up the next day, wishing that he hadn't. He had been in the middle of a very pleasant dream, when all of a sudden Red had shaken him by the shoulders. "We need to get moving!" he exclaimed. "We sent a small unit forward, and now their under attack!"

"What?!" exclaimed Shinji, jumping up out of his sleeping bag. He had already been sleeping in full armor, so he didn't need to get ready. He grabbed his blasters and helmet and rushed out of his tent. There was a large radio receiver an the ground, and several clones and Master Secura were huddled around it. The sound of blasters could be heard coming from it, as well as the strange screams that they had heard almost every night.

"Help!" the voice said, "We need assistance now! They're everywhere!" the blaster noise continued. Shinji put on his helmet and started running north, which is where the unit had been sent. There was a dense yellow fog, as there always was here, and Shinji could only see about eight yards in front of him. The signal had been coming from an non-operational AT-TE. Shinji got there and looked around. There was no longer anyone there. 'Where are they?' he thought. In a few moments, The horrible truth dawned on him. 'Oh no,' he thought. 'They're all dead.' He looked around for what had been attacking them. Unfortunately, he found it. There was a large corpse about ten feet to his left. 'What the,' thought Shinji. Suddenly, a living version of the corpse came Charging at him from out of the mist. The creature roared, and it sounded very familiar.

Shinji wasted no time firing at the creature. He hit it directly in the torso, but it kept coming. It was in front of Shinji in less then three seconds, and brought one of its six legs crashing down. Shinji moved quickly, just avoiding the creature's attack. He fired at it again, this time hitting it in the head. The creature fell to the ground. Shinji looked at the dead body more closely. 'This thing's tough,' thought Shinji. 'But there's no way that just two of them could take down a unit of clones by themselves. Unless...' He looked up, and saw three more charging at him. He fired at one, hitting it directly in its open mouth. But there was no way he could take out the other two by himself. Suddenly, a barrage of blue lasers began slamming into the creatures. The clones had finally caught up to him.

But in answer to the arrival of the clones, two more creatures showed up. Shinji began firing at them. "Aim for the heads!" he yelled. The creatures fell, one by one. But Shinji couldn't help but feel like they would see more of them soon enough. However, this worry was soon replaced by a new one. The clones gathered around the broken AT-TE, and suddenly red blaster fire filled the area! Droids started pouring out of the mist. Shinji and the clones fired back. Lasers flew everywhere. But despite Shinji's leadership, they were still losing. One by one his clones fell, but the battle droids kept coming. Marching on and on like an endless tide. It was starting to look like Shinji's final battle.

Suddenly a blue lightsaber ripped through the droid ranks, followed shortly by a green one. Ayla Secura caught the weapons as the came back, and ran headfirst into the droids, hacking and slashing as she went. She made her way to the AT-TE, followed by a large group of clones being led by Commander Red. Suddenly, the battle started moving in their favor. They successfully beat off the attackers. But they knew they only had minutes before they would return. Master Secura, Shinji, and Red got together to form a plan. Alex was busy organizing a defensive strategy.

"Alright," said Secura, "We need a plan. Our defenses won't hold forever against the droids, and those creatures are probably going to show up as well."

"What are those things anyway?" asked Shinji.

"They're called Acklay," answered the Jedi. "They're very strong and very vicious."

"What we need," said Red, "Is something that can help us put the droids on the defensive. This AT-TE isn't working right now, but it's not because of damage. The power source ran out. If we could find another one, we'd be all set."

"But where are we going to find a power core just lying around?" asked Secura. Shinji thought for a moment.

"Hey," he said, "Didn't our scouts say that they found a destroyed LAAT around here yesterday?"

"Yes," said Secura, "It had the 182nd Legion's logo painted on it. But how does that help us?"

"Well," explained Shinji, "LAAT's and AT-TE's use the same kind of power core. If the LAAT still has it's core..."

"Then we can use it for the AT-TE!" exclaimed Red. "Brilliant!"

"But," said Secura, "The power core may be broken. In fact it might not be there at all."

"It's a chance we'll have to take," said Shinji. "But there's still one problem. Even iff we find it, how will we get it out of the ship. And if we get it out, how will we carry it safely back here?" They all thought for a moment on this.

"Wait," said Red, "What about that thing?"

"What thing?" asked Secura.

"That thing," said Red. "You know Shinji. That thing you used on Mygeeto, that what did you call it? That EVA." Shinji couldn't believe he had forgotten about it. However, he still had doubts about using it.

"Is there really no other way?" he asked.

"No," said Red, "Not that I can see. That thing has the best chance of doing it. Its armor is as good as the AT-TE's, plus it's loaded with weapons. I know you don't like using it Shinji, but it may be our only chance." Shinji only needed a moment to think it over.

"Alright," he said. "If it's the only way." He had kept it inside an LAAT, which was used to transport it. He and Red went to go get it. Ayla Secura followed, curious as to what it was that they had been talking about. Shinji opened up the side door of the gunship, and there it was. Ayla Secura was,to say the least, surprised to see a giant droid in the LAAT.

"That's what you were talking about?" she asked.

"Yes," answered Shinji as he removed his helmet and got inside. He activated the EVA. It's sensors pinpointed the exact location of the downed LAAT, which showed that the power core was still active. "Alright," said Shinji, "I'll get that core, you guys lead the ground troops in defending that AT-TE

"Good luck," said Red.

"May the force be with you Commander," said Secura. Shinji nodded and started for the LAAT. Even with the EVA's advanced vision, it was still hard to see. The fog wasn't as bad now, but he still had to put up with the dense jungle of fungus-like plants. He tore through the jungle in search of his target. After a few minutes of searching, he found it. The LAAT was damaged beyond repair and half buried in the ground. Shinji ripped open The back of the ship and found the power core. He grabbed it, and headed towards the AT-TE. He got close, only to se it recieving heavy fire from the droids. Many of the clones were pinned down, unable to move from cover because of the relentless droid attack.

Shinji smashed through the droids, causing much confusion amongst their ranks. He delivered the energy core, turned around, and began fighting. The droid fire was now concentrated on Shinji, leaving the clones plenty of opportunity to a: start fixing the AT-TE and b: start firing at the distracted enemy. Shinji fired rockets into the droids, causing large amounts of damage. He fired the wrist blasters simultaneously and Charged up the chest cannon. He fired the cannon, destroying at least a dozen droids at once. Suddenly several Tank Droids tore out of the jungle, followed by heavy fire. Shinji started blasting at the tanks.

"This is Red," said a voice over the EVA's communicator. "We've got the AT-TE fixed."

"Good," replied Shinji. Suddenly, one of the large blasts that were coming out of the fog hit the EVA in the chest. Shinji recoiled from the blow.

"Are you alright?" came Red's voice.

"Yeah," replied Shinji, "Just find out what's causing that fire." Moments later Red's voice Came over the communicator again.

"The fire's coming from turrets," said Red. "We're gonna go take them out." The AT-TE started moving. It's main cannon fired, and there was an explosion somewhere in the mist. "That's one down," said Red, "And scanners say just five more to go. The AT-TE kept moving towards the mist. Shinji destroyed a few more droids and then ran into the mist as well. He found a turret very soon, and ripped it right out of the ground. He tore the cannon part off, and hurled the rest of it at an oncoming Tank Droid. He searched around and found the next turret. It fired at him, but he dodged. He then fired several rockets at it. The turret exploded.'Alright!' thought Shinji. 'Three down, three to go! We can do this!' However, his cheerful attitude didn't stay long.

All of the noise had attracted several Acklay. They burst out of the jungle and began to attack. Unfortunately, they didn't bother the droids unless they happened to get in their way. They couldn't see or smell any meat on the droids, so they knew that they were no good to eat. However, those things running around in the white shells had proven delicious in the past... They began to attack the clones. One of the Acklay charged at Shinji. Shinji used the cannon that he had ripped off earlier like a baseball bat. He swung it at the creature's head, fracturing its skull. Two more Acklay charged towards him. Shinji used the cannon like a spear next, and impaled the creature on it. But before he could pull it out of the body, the second one reached him.

The creature jumped on top of the EVA and stabbed at its chest with its crab-like claws. Shinji couldn't move, as the Acklay had pinned down the EVA's arms and legs. The creature's first jab did nothing. The second dented the metal. And the third stabbed straight into the metal. And Shinji. Shinji looked down and saw his chest area bleeding. The Acklay hadn't hit any organs, but had torn through Shinji's armor and made a very long, deep scratch. The creature smelled the blood and it went into a frenzy. It bit and clawed at the EVA, trying to get at the potential meal inside. 'This is it,' thought Shinji, starting to grow dizzy from the blood loss. 'I'm going to die.' His life flashed before his eyes. As Shinji lay there, unable to move, he got a strange feeling. He felt the presence of someone. It felt like... Rei. His mind was filled with thoughts of the blue-haired girl. It felt suddenly like she was right there, holding onto him tightly like she had done on Coruscant. Then he remembered his promise. 'I'll be back Rei.' The words ran through his head over and over.

The EVA's hand shot out and grabbed the Acklay by the throat. "Sorry buddy," said Shinji. "I made a promise to Rei. And I intend to keep it." The Acklay screamed out in pain, and its legs began thrashing in the air. Shinji got up, still holding the creatures neck. The EVA's hand squeezed tighter and tighter. The Acklay kept trying to fight back. But it failed. The Acklay went limp, and Shinji dropped it. Shinji forgot about the cut in his chest, and began fighting as if nothing had happened. Several Acklay had been nearby, and had witnessed Shinji's attack. They fled in terror from the EVA. Shinji chased some of them down and made examples of them for all of the other Acklay to see. Soon the Acklay had all disappeared. The droids tried to make a 'tactical retreat' as well. The clones took advantage of this, and began firing heavily. By now, there was only one turret left. Shinji located it and destroyed it.

The clones gave a loud cheer. They had just had a major victory over the droid army. Shinji got out of the EVA, and the clones cheered louder. Shinji smiled. Then, he fainted.

888

About a week later, the 501st were rotated out of Felucia. Shinji was fine by now, but he retained a scar on his chest. When his skin had healed completely, the only evidence of the creature's attack was a long, thin line that ran from his left shoulder down to a few under his right arm. The EVA was still damaged, but it would be repaired soon enough. The 501st couldn't have been happier to be leaving Felucia. When they left, Ayla Secura personally saw them off. For some reason, The clones seemed to look at the ground when she was speaking to them. They were all wearing helmets, but Shinji could still see that they weren't looking directly at her. He couldn't figure out why, but he figured it probably wasn't important. Ayla Secura came to him last. She shook his hand and smiled.

"I told the Jedi Council about your performance on the battlefield last week," she said. "They said that they were impressed. Congratulations General Shinji." She had said it. Shinji had heard her say it. But he couldn't believe it.

"I'm sorry," said Shinji, "But, what did you just say?"

"The Council promoted you to general," she answered. "You are now the commander of the 501st." The clones heard her, and started cheering. Shinji couldn't believe it. Him? A general? He got into an LAAT, which took him up to the 501st's capitol ship. General. The word kept traveling through his mind. He couldn't believe it. He, Shinji Ikari, the boy who had followed Obi-Wan to Kamino and then had somehow ended up fighting on a desert-planet called Geonosis, was a general. Shinji somehow made his way to his room on the ship, still lost in thought. Maybe he would believe it tomorrow.

888

Rei was having a bad dream. She couldn't see anything, except for a yellow mist. Eventually she saw Shinji through the mist. He was in some kind of machine. It was some kind of robot. The Shinji/robot was running through some strange looking plants. Suddenly, a grotesque face appeared, and screeched loudly. Rei woke up, frightened. The creature she had seen was horrible. She looked around, and found the teddy-bear Shinji had given her on the floor. She picked it up and hugged it tight. She suddenly began to feel a lot better and in a few minutes, she was asleep.

Moments later, Shinji dropped the nightmare creature's dead body.

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Whoa! Shinji's a general now! And he's got the scar to prove it!

So, more EVA use, plus a strange, symbolism-filled scene with Rei. What more could you ask for(don't answer that)? I'll try to have the next chapter up in a day or two. Next time- Kashyyyk: no turning back!


	9. kashyyyk: no turning back

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Time for Wookies! And, to clarify, this isn't the battle that we saw in the movie. This is actually a little bit before Yoda even arrives on the planet.

About the teddy bear: for those who don't quite get it (I may have disguised it too well). It literally is Rei's little piece of Shinji. It serves as a connection between them when he's away. Hence Rei hugging the bear, and Shinji feeling it.

And to Eric, who brought up a good point: By general, I mean field general. He is a general by the same terms that the jedi are(Obi-Wan is called General Kenobi by the clones for example). Just wanted to clear that up. But, Shinji will resolve this whole thing for me so...

P.S. Again, thanks for the reviews.

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"You really promoted me to General?" Shinji asked. He was having a holographic conference with the Jedi Council. It was tomorrow, and Shinji still couldn't believe it.

"Yes," replied Mace Windu. "We felt that we needed a competent, brave young lad like yourself."

"What exactly am I supposed to do as General?" asked Shinji

"Well for starters," began Mace, "You no longer have to be on the battlefield. You can lead your men from somewhere else. Also, you no longer have to stay with just the 501st. Now that you're a General, you will simply be sent on missions that need you. Which means that you could be in charge of any number of Legions at once. You can also sit in at political meetings involving the war, in which you will be allowed to be a key speaker. But becoming a General is your choice." Shinji tried to absorb all of this information. The idea of him as a General was strange to him. The jedi saw the look of confusion on his face. "Think about this," said Mace, "We will call you again in an hour to hear your decision." The hologram disappeared. Shinji sat there staring at the blank wall, and wondered what to do.

They were hours away from the Wookie home-world known as Kashyyyk, and they only had a third of their force with them. Yesterday, Commander Red had departed in one of the Acclamators and headed off to a mission on Kamino. And Captain J0-5h had taken the other on a mission to Coruscant, simply as a defense measure. That left Shinji and Alex with the Venator. Shinji couldn't imagine simply commanding the clones from afar, especially not in a battle as important as the one coming up, and in a situation where every soldier would count. The Wookies were a great ally to the Republic, and had recently come under attack by the CIS. Shinji knew that he should be on the battlefield fighting side by side with the Wookies in this, their hour of need. On the other hand, Shinji being a General could have its advantages. Political meetings like the ones Master Windu had mentioned would probably take place on Coruscant. And in Shinji's mind, Coruscant meant Rei. Shinji had a lot to consider, and only an hour to do it in.

He began meditating. He found that it helped him to calm down, so as to think clearly. And he needed a clear head, because he knew that once he made his choice, there would be no turning back. He would be stuck with whatever he chose. He thought for a while, but it didn't take long for him to make his decision. He continued meditating, so that he could keep his choice clear in his mind, without having to think of the other choice. The hour was up before he knew it, and the Jedi Council contacted him once more. "Have you made your decision?" asked the holographic Mace Windu.

"Yes," replied Shinji, "And my answer is no."

"What?" asked Mace, seemingly confused.

"No," Shinji repeated. "I can't abandon my men. I need to be here with them, and not directing them from the sidelines. I need to be on the field with them. I thank you for the offer, but I can't accept it. I'm going to stay a commander." The Jedi Masters all looked at Shinji in surprise. But as surprised as they looked, Shinji was more surprised when Yoda smiled.

"General material the boy is," said Yoda, "And general, the boy shall be."

"What?!" exclaimed Shinji, "Master Yoda, I can't-"

"Here me out you must," Yoda interrupted. "Only said certain things about the rank of General, we did. If General you are, then choose you may." Shinji looked at him in confusion.

"We told you only a small part of what a General can do," explained Mace. "As a General, You alone make the decision. You choose if you want to stay with your men or leave them. You choose wether or not to fight in battles. We made you a General, because we needed someone like you to have a strong place in the army. However, what you do with it is strictly up to you." Shinji thought for a moment.

"Alright," he said. "I accept the rank of General. But, on a few conditions."

"Alright," said Mace, "What are your conditions?"

"First," said Shinji, "Where the 501st goes, I go. And vice-versa. No matter what, I'm staying with them. And second, I don't think I'll be participating in meetings. And if I have to, it'll have to be through a communicator. Is that alright?" The Jedi Council looked at him, impressed. He hadn't really asked for anything, other than being allowed to stay with his men on the battle-field, and not being made to sit through meetings. The Jedi could identify with his second request all too easily. They didn't like politicians or their dreadfully boring meetings that much.

"Fine that is," answered Yoda. "Not for much did you ask, and easily arranged what you asked for, is. Accepts your decisions and terms, the Council does." Shinji saluted, and the hologram disappeared. All that was left for Shinji to do now, was wait to get to Kashyyyk.

888

The Shinji hologram in the Council Chamber disappeared. The Council had been quite pleased with his initial response of 'no'. "Shinji's a very selfless boy isn't he?" said Obi-Wan. "Not wanting to be a general, because it could mean leaving his men."

"Yes the boy is quite noble," said Mace. "He knew what he would be giving up by not accepting the job. He could've been out of harms way, but didn't take it. He could've had a lot of free time due to meetings, in which he could just enjoy himself on Coruscant."

"Don't forget Senator Ayanami," said Kenobi, "He seems to be quite taken by her. He could have chosen Coruscant and been able to spend time with her, instead of spending that same time being shot at."

"Yes," agreed Yoda, "Took the difficult path he did. Chose what he felt was right over what he wanted, he did. Very noble, the boy is."

"Are you still sure we shouldn't tell him?" asked Obi-Wan. "He manipulates the Force unconsciously. He jumped off of a cliff and came out fine, with his unknown use of the Force. If he knew how to use the Force properly-"

"No," stated Yoda firmly. The subject of training Shinji in the Jedi Arts was a subject of debate in the Jedi Council. Some, such as Obi-Wan and Shaak Ti, were all for it, even if he was too old. They had done the same for Anakin. However, some of the elder members such as Yoda and Plo Koon were against it, having been against training Anakin as well. And the rest, Mace Windu included, were undecided. The only difference between the cases was Obi-Wan's promise to Qui-Gon, and Qui-Gon's insistence that Anakin was to fulfill the Prophecy.

"But why?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Three reasons, I have," replied Yoda, "Too old he is, as was Anakin. But most important, the second reason is. In the Grand Army of the Republic he is. Under Palpatine's control he is. Trust the boy I do, but trust the Supreme Chancellor, I do not."

"And the third reason?" asked Obi-Wan.

"In love, the boy is," answered Yoda. "Forbid marriage, the Jedi Code does. Always there, the temptation will be. And strong enough Shinji will not be, to resist it." It was true, and Obi-Wan knew that.

"Still," said Obi-Wan, "It doesn't feel right to keep it a secret from him. If his father hadn't been in the way, he could be here with us now. And besides, for the last few years, he's been undergoing the same trials that any padawan would, even though they were purely by chance. Just moments ago, he practically aced the Test of Self. And Master Yoda, I know that you've been training him a bit in secret."

"Only in lightsaber training it was," Yoda said defensively. "Yet a good point have you, Master Kenobi. When over the war is, tell him we may. But odd it is, that see the boy trained you would. Against Anakin's training you were."

"True," admitted Obi-Wan. "But, there is another difference between Anakin's training and Shinji's besides the promise I made to Qui-Gon. We managed to actually sense Shinji. He was four years old, a bit old for the age limit true, but it could still have been successful." Yoda had to admit, Kenobi was right. They had sensed a powerful presence in the force that day. They traced it to the source and had found Shinji. The Force had been triggered in him by the death of is mother. The child was only a little bit older than the code permitted, but he was incredibly Force sensitive. However, two things were in the way of him being accepted into the Jedi Order as a youngling. The fact that he had already experienced serious loss, and his father.

Gendo Ikari had been devastated by the loss of his wife. He said that Shinji was all he had left to remember her by, and would not allow him to be taken away from him and be trained as a jedi. However, the jedi couldn't help but notice when Gendo all but abandoned his son. They were moved with pity for the poor boy who was now not only parentless, but also unable to be taught by them. During the training of a jedi, one of the lessons was to accept loss. Shinji couldn't be taught this now, as it was learned later in the Jedi trials as part of the Test of Self. Even though they were unable to help him accept the loss of his mother, the Jedi did manage to help him a different way. They provided friendship and guidance. Shinji would come to the Temple in his spare time, in which he was allowed to participate in some of the lessons.

Over the years, his sensitivity to the Force subsided very much. He still had it, but it was almost impossible to detect. The jedi had not fully understood it, but believed that it could be triggered by something once again, as it had been before. For example, when he had seen that small group of soldiers who were about to die at the bottom of that Geonosian cliff, the Force had reawaken in him. While he himself jumped off of the cliff to save his comrades, the Force had saved him by cushioning his landing. Ever since then, the force had helped him escape more dangerous situations then one. While he only had half of the Force sensitivity that he had shown when he was young, it had seemed to merge with his battle instincts. So to his credit, Shinji wasn't completely reliant on the Force to help him in dangerous situations like the Jedi seemed to be. The Force was there simply to lend a helping hand when needed. Luckily, Shinji's natural skills covered most things, so the only time the Force was needed were times like when he had just avoided the sniper fire while retrieving that holocron on Geonosis, and his waking up as Derren had entered Rei's room.

About a year ago, during one of Shinji's breaks, Master Yoda had taught Shinji the art of meditation. During a session when they were meditating together, Yoda sensed the force suddenly surge inside of Shinji. He asked Shinji what he was thinking of as he meditated, to which he had replied, "My mother." Yoda made a discovery that day, about Shinji's connection to the force. It was his mother, Yui Ikari. When she had died, she had somehow become one with the Force, and so was able to help her son. The presence of Yui within the force, combined with Shinji's natural Force sensitivity had been what had caused both of these surges. It seemed that whenever the thought of his mother entered his mind, the Force entered him, through her.

And just a week ago, Yoda had sensed another surge, more powerful than any he had felt before. It felt like Shinji, but Yoda thought it impossible that it could be him. He was on Felucia, far too many star-systems away to be felt. But, as Yoda meditated, he received a vision. It was of Shinji dying. A creature was attempting to kill him, and he was losing consciousness. Yoda was somehow able to see into his mind, though he wasn't sure how. He saw Shinji thinking of Rei, and the promise he had made to her. His promise to Rei had awaken the Force in him once again. It affected the creatures as well. They saw Shinji killing his attacker, but instead of attacking him, had run. The Force had been so potent in those moments, the Acklay had sensed it and ran from him. However, as good as he knew Shinji to be, Yoda still had doubts.

Shinji was now very used to seeing violence and death, wether he wanted to or not. He had experienced the pain of loss. He had also ruthlessly taken life from beings that were running away from him, even if they were Acklay. And finally and most prominent on Yoda's list of doubts about Shinji becoming a jedi, was his love for Rei Ayanami. Although Yoda secretly wished for Shinji to be trained, as Obi-Wan did openly, he knew that there were far too many risks attached. However, Shinji's conference with them had changed Yoda's mind about one thing. He felt that it was safe to tell Shinji of the Force's presence within him. He knew that Shinji might want the training. But he also knew that Shinji would accept it if the Jedi said no.

The debate was now closed, or in any case almost completely resolved. Obi-Wan could accept Shinji at least knowing about his use of the Force, even if the training couldn't come with it. Obi-Wan bowed respectively to Yoda, and then left the Chamber. Yoda needed to leave as well. He had been here only to observe Shinji's response to becoming a General. He was now headed to Kashyyyk. He hoped he would make it there in time to help Shinji, the 501st, and the Wookies. But he had confidence that Shinji would be able to handle the situation on Kashyyyk, for long enough until Yoda arrived at any rate.

888

Shinji didn't like what he saw outside at all. A CIS capitol ship was right between them and Kashyyyk. And that wasn't all. The ship was guarded by two Banking Clan Com Ships. Shinji quickly got in his armor (which had been repaired recently, as well as strengthened), grabbed his guns, and headed to the hanger. Clones were running about the area, jumping in ships, and taking off. Alex was about to get into an ARC-170 when he saw Shinji approaching. "Don't worry sir," he said throwing Shinji a salute, "I've got it covered. I'm going to lead this operation."

"What?" asked Shinji, "I thought I was going to lead this operation, like I always do."

"Sir?"

"And don't call me 'sir' Alex," said Shinji, "It's just me, Shinji. There is no 'sir' involved."

"Huh?" said Alex. This wasn't the first time Shinji had surprised him. "But you're a General now sir. You don't need to go into battle. You can just stay here and-"

"Alex," said Shinji, cutting him off, "It doesn't matter if I'm a General now. I'm not going to sit here and make you do all the work. And please don't call me sir. Just call me Shinji."

"Is that an order?" asked Alex.

"No," replied Shinji. "It's a request."

"Alright then," said Alex, getting into his ship. "What should we do first?"

"Take out the Com Ships," said Shinji, running towards his Starfighter. Alex took off and, moments later, Shinji followed. There were droids everywhere. He could see Alex leading a squad of clones in attacking one of the Com Ships. Shinji started heading for the other one. "This is Shinji," he said over the communicator, "I need some support. I'm heading towards a Com Ship. Concentrate your fire on it. Over."

"Yes sir," came the response. Two ARC-170's and a V-Wing flew in behind him.

"Lock on to the Com ship," said Shinji. "As we approach, I want the ARC-170's to attack the front and back ends. Do so only at 500 meters. The V-Wing will follow me until 100 meters. Then, you go up, and I go down. You attack from the top, and I'll attack from the bottom. Is that clear?"

"Sir Yes Sir!" In seconds, the two ARC's broke off and began their attack. In another few seconds, Shinji and the V-Wing also split apart and began their attack. The plan was a success, and the Ship was destroyed. Alex and his squad were successful as well. Shinji noticed the CIS's ship guns pounding away at the 501st's Venator, and quickly radioed his squad.

"Our next target is the CIS guns," he said. "Take them out quick!" He and the clones closed in on the guns. Shinji was getting close, when suddenly a Vulture went flying straight in front of him, firing at and destroying a nearby ARC-170. Shinji pursued the droid and started firing. The droid started spinning. It dodged every shot, and then looped back behind Shinji. It fired two missiles at him. He looped around, attempting to dodge, but the missiles followed him! 'Oh great,' thought Shinji, 'They're using heat seekers now.' He kept up his pursuit of the vulture droid, the missiles right behind him. He noticed a slight delay in the missiles' movement. That was all he needed.

He came up right on the droids tail and moved to the left swiftly. The missile didn't maneuver fast enough, and began following the vulture. The missiles slammed into the droid, which sent it spinning. It slammed straight into another droid. Shinji looped back and went to rejoin his squad. Suddenly a call came. "Shinji, this is Alex," the voice said. "The CIS shields are up. We can't touch it. We need to get a squad inside. We tried sending an LAAT, but it was shot down." Shinji took the hint.

"Alright," he said as he turned his Starfighter around. "I'm heading for the hanger. Meet me there ASAP." Shinji sped towards the ship and landed. He hopped inside the nearest LAAT. An ARC-170 landed and Alex jumped out. He ran over to the LAAT and got in. "Hey!" Shinji called out, "Pile in!" A good number of clones got into the LAAT, some manning the guns, and the rest filling all of the available cargo space. Shinji took off. He made the ship go as fast as possible, so as to try and avoid fire. But it wasn't fast enough. The LAAT was soon taking fire from all sides. The only thing saving them was the ship's heavy armor. The clones who were in the side guns fired back, hoping to drive some of the attackers off. Alex, who was sitting co-pilot, began firing as well, hoping that the guided missiles would be able to draw some fire away from the ship. Some of the droids actually fired at the missile, knowing that it could cause heavy damage if it made it into the hanger.

Shinji was able to make it into the CIS ship. He landed, and he and half of the clones jumped out. The rest remained behind to guard and repair the ship. Shinji and his squad, which was made up of Alex and some clone marines, fought their way into the internal systems room. Alex took out the life support, two marines destroyed the engines, and Shinji blew up the shield generator. Because Alex had destroyed the life support, they only had minutes to get off of the ship. Shinji was about to leave, when he saw something lying on the ground. It looked like a holocron. Shinji picked it up, and then got a call from Alex.

"Shinji!"exclaimed Alex, "Where are you? We need to leave now! Droids are crawling all over the hanger!"

"On my way!" replied Shinji as he raced towards the hanger. Alex was right. It **was** crawling with droids. The clones were doing there best to defend the LAAT, but they were facing far to many droids. They dropped one by one. Shinji hurled a thermal detonator into the droids. It exploded, and Shinji started running towards the LAAT. The droids began firing at Shinji. He kept running and dodging, making his way to the ship. He jumped into the cockpit and started it up. A droid with a rocket launcher fired at the LAAT. Shinji was almost out of the hanger when it hit. It hit the right wing, and heavily damaged it. 'Uh-oh,' thought Shinji as he flew towards the Venator. "Guys," Shinji said over the intercom, "You may want to grab onto something. This is going to be a rough landing!" The clones grabbed onto the bars above them. Shinji flew into the hanger, and the ships artificial gravity took over. They began leaning heavily to the right. Shinji tried to land it. It scraped across the ground, sending sparks flying. It was still technically a safe landing though. Shinji quickly got out of the LAAT and made his way up to the control bridge.

"Direct all fire at the CIS ship," Shinji said to the pilots. Then he grabbed the main communicator, which sent out a signal to all of the clones' starfighters. "Attention!" he said, "The CIS capitol ship's shield is down. Ignore the fighters and direct all fire at the ship. Repeat, direct all fir at the CIS capitol Ship." Shinji looked out the window and watched his plan successfully being carried out. The CIS ship actually blew up because of the extensive fire. The Starfighters outside began making their way to the planets surface.

They had broken through the CIS defense.

The real battle was about to begin.

888

Shinji looked across the water, a gentle breeze blowing through his hair. Through the thin mist, he could see them coming. His helmet was at his side, and his rifle was strapped to his back. He looked at the oncoming droid army, and shook his head.

"Just look at them all," he said. "There are so many of them." A Wookie next to him gave a low growl. "I am not!" exclaimed Shinji. Shinji had only been on the planet for an hour, but he had taken to the Wookie language like a duck to water. "Chewbacca you take that back!" Chewbacca just laughed and grunted. "I am not a wuss!" said Shinji, "I'm just saying that there is an awful lot of droids! We're outnumbered five to one!" Chewbacca growled agian. "No, no!" exclaimed Shinji, "I didn't mean it that way! I have absolute faith in your fighting abilities! I'm just concerned about the number of droids." Shinji looked back at the droids. They were closer now, but they hadn't started shooting yet. Chewbacca gave a low, soft growl. "See? You're worried too."

The clones and Wookies had been working most of that last hour on wooden barricades. Their main objective was to protect an oil refinery that was located right here. If that was destroyed not only would the Republic be missing a major source of fuel, the death toll would be catastrophic. There was a lot of oil here and if it exploded, well... Shinji didn't want to think about it. There was a Wookie village nearby. That would be a lot of dead innocents if the 501st didn't do their job right.

The droids were very close now, only 15 yards from the beachhead. Luckily, that holocron that Shinji had found was actually the droid battle plan. They had been spending the last hour studying it, and had taken the necessary defensive precautions. Shinji put his helmet on and readied his gun. He was going to be leading the army from the front, with the help of Chewbacca, Tarrful, and Alex. They had built wooden barricades all around the beach. Even though they were only wood, they were still very sturdy. The trees that grew on Kashyyyk were strong, just like the Wookies. In fact, it seemed to Shinji that everything on this planet was strong. It was an absolute pillar of strength, one that couldn't be allowed to fall. The droids reached the beachhead, and began firing. The Wookies gave out a great roar, which mingled with the 501st's battle-cry. They began to fire as well.

Most of the droids, at least at this moment, were super battle droids. There were a few engineers, some assault droids, and a sniper or two. There were no droidekas, at least not yet. Shinji also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there weren't any Magna Guards. Shinji kept firing, taking down one droid after another. The mission, at least at the moment, was to defend the beachhead. Shinji took out a grenade and shouted out, "Grenades! Now!" He and several clones threw their thermal detonaters into the oncoming droids. They exploded, causing massive damage in the droid ranks. Chewbacca followed the example and roared out. Several Wookies performed Shinji's maneuver flawlessly. But despite their efforts, the droids kept coming. It was then that the Wookies showed their true strength.

The droids were covering the beachhead. One got up right in front of Shinji and before he could react, Chewbacca grabbed it, and then ripped it apart with his bare hands. It was incredible. Every time a droid got too close to a Wookie, it would meet the same fate. And that was if the droid was lucky enough to get close. The Wookies were excellent shot's, and made each bowcaster bolt count. Shinji was beginning to have a positive outlook on this battle. Well, until the Tank Droids showed up at any rate.

They came speeding through the water, firing at the beachhead. Shinji ducked down, as one reached the beachhead and ramped off of the barricade, crushing it in the process. Shinji looked up to see three more coming, followed by... No it couldn't be... Yes, it was. The Tank Droids were being followed by droidekas. Dozens of them. Shinji looked back and saw the Tank Droid heading for the oil refinery. Luckily, it was behind a heavy metal seawall, as well as the sturdy wooden defenses that they had built earlier. But, they wouldn't last long.

"Fall back!" Shinji yelled, "Get behind the seawall! We need to protect that refinery!" The 501st and the Wookies began running as instructed, firing at the droids who had managed to get past them. As they passed it, they took the opportunity to throw grenades at the Tank Droid. They managed to destroy it, but knew it was only a matter of time before the others got there. They got behind the seawall and shut it tight. They were safe from tanks and any other vehicles now, but not against infantry. There were two doors, one on each side of the seawall. And they were jammed. The controls had been destroyed by stray blaster fire. Some technicians were working on it, but they couldn't get it done fast enough. Droids began pouring through the doors, blasting as they came. Shinji began firing.

He blasted like there was no tommorow, which there might not be if the droids got past him. For once, he wished that he had the EVA with him. But it was still up in the Venator. Shinji hadn't even thought about it until now. 'Well, too late now,' Shinji thought as he fired. The droids kept coming.

Suddenly, three destroyers pulled up. And they weren't alone. They were being lead by a Magna Guard. They fired at Shinji, and he rolled out of the way behind a large boulder. He waited a few seconds, and then threw a grenade. His timing was perfect. The droidekas' shields ran out right as the grenade exploded. However, the Magna guard had rolled out of the way, just in time. Shinji shot at its staff immediately, remembering how much trouble the last one had caused him. It hit, and the Magna guard discarded it. It pulled out its BULLDOG and started firing. Shinji dodged and fired back. The Magna guard dodged as well. Shinji tried to fire again, but nothing happened. _Click-click._ 'Oh no,' thought Shinji, 'Not again.' The Magna guard fired at him. Shinji dodged and tried to pull out his pistol.

It wouldn't move! There was some hind of fungus growing there, keeping it in place. 'The fungus must have been from when I fell in the water earlier,' thought Shinji, as he dodged yet another shot from the Magna Guard. Shinji had fallen in the water while helping to build on of the barricades. And then... _Click-click_. The droid ran out of ammo. Shinji rushed at the droid. He did a sweeping kick, catching the droid off guard. The Magna guard found itself in the air. Shinji grabbed its foot and did an over-the-shoulder throw, smashing the droid into the ground. 'Thank goodness for all that martial-arts training,' he thought. The Army trained all of the troopers in hand to hand combat. Shinji hadn't been trained much, as most of it had taken place on Kamino when the clones were being raised, but he knew enough. The droid tried to get up, but Shinji stopped it. He started spinning the droid around by the ankle. He spun around for a few seconds, and then released his hold on the droid. He actually managed to send it a couple of yards through the air, and into the mud.

The droid got up again, and rushed at Shinji. It delivered an uppercut into Shinji's jaw. If he hadn't been wearing his helmet, that blow could've broken his jaw. Shinji fell to the ground. The droid grabbed him and hauled him up. It jabbed him in the stomach. Shinji's armor absorbed most of the blow, but it still almost completely winded him. The droid dropped Shinji, who landed on his knees at the droids feet. The droid tried to finish him off with one quick blow that would go through Shinji's helmet, and into his skull. The droid struck, but Shinji moved out of the way. The droid stumbled forward a few steps, due to the strength it had put behind the attack. Shinji kicked it in the back of the head, completely knocking it over.

Shinji pulled at his pistol, finally wrenching it free from its holster. The magna guard tried to get up, but Shinji fired. He fired about eight shots into it, just to make sure. The droid didn't get up. Shinji grabbed his rifle and headed out to find some ammo. He found an ammo crate, loaded up, and returned to battle. He looked towards the oil refinery. 'Oh no,' thought Shinji. There were a dozen or so droids headed right for it! Shinji ran to defend it. He fired, which caught the droids' attention. they fired back and he dodged. He made his way there, destroying five droids as he went. Unfortunately, there were still seven left. And even Shinji found it difficult to fight seven droids in such an open space. They started firing at him, and the only place to dodge was right behind the oil refiner. He rolled behind it and tried to come up with a plan.

If he stayed there, the droids would destroy the machine, causing the oil to explode. If he used it as cover, it would still explode. Shinji thought about it, and realized he had only one option left. His last resort. He took the metal cylinder off of his belt. He activated the blade. He looked out from behind the machine. The droids were planting explosives. They didn't care about being blown up. They were salvageable. They knew that they could be rebuilt or repaired, or even placed in a knew body. Why just last week, Unit 456's hard drive had been put inside of a vulture droid.

Shinji ran out from behind the machine and attacked. The droids tried to fire, but it was too late. Shinji destroyed the two nearest droids, and blocked a shot from the third. It went directly into the fourth, and Shinji destroyed the third. The last three didn't do any better then the others. Shinji deactivated the lightsaber and went to work. He needed to defuse these bombs.

"What was that?" asked a clone voice. Shinji turned around to see Alex standing over him. "Was that a lightsa-?"

"Shh!" said Shinji. "Be quiet and help me with these bombs." Alex kneeled down to help. "Were you the only one who saw it?" asked Shinji.

"Yes," replied Alex, "There weren't any other clones around. But was that a lightsaber? How'd you get it?"

"Doesn't matter," said Shinji, snapping wires, "Just don't tell anyone that you saw it ok? I can only use it in emergencies like that one. Is that clear?"

"Sir Yes Sir!" said Alex. Shinji sighed. Again with the 'sir' thing. Oh well. Shinji and Alex defused the bombs. They turned around, only to see an ever increasing amount of droids puring through the doors. Then suddenly, the seawall came down! The droids had used the controls to bring it down, and then destroyed the controls. Four tank droids were waiting outside. They rolled in. Shinji took command of the situation.

"I need rocket launchers here now!" he yelled above the fray. Several wookies and clones rushed over to him. Shinji divided them in half. "Alright," he said, "Group A, you fire first, then duck down to reload. Group B, while group A reloads you fire. Group A, you then fire while B is reloading. Understood?" A mix of Yes Sir's and growls replied. They started firing at the Tanks. Shinji's plan worked perfectly. "Just keep doing that!" Shinji said, "I need to go organize the attack. Will you all be okay?" Again, a chorus of Yes Sir's and growls answered him. He ran off to find Chewbacca. He found him with a group of clones and Wookies, who were being pinned down by heavy fire. Shinji rushed over to them, firing at the enemy. The droids turned their attention towards him, allowing Chewbacca's unit to tear them apart. Shinji ran over and started organizing things. He took a quick assessment of the soldiers. Five troopers, three sharpshooters, four engineers, two heavy troopers, and eight Wookies. Of the Wookies, three had rocket launchers, and the other five had bowcasters.

Shinji began formulating a plan with Chewbacca. "I think we should find Tarfful," said Shinji. "Then, we should start striking guerilla style. If we can-" Chewbacca cut him off with a growl. He growled out **his** plan. "That is a good a plan," said Shinji, "But a bit risky don't you think?" Chewbacca had suggested a more frontal assault on the droids. He said that they should attack the small peninsula which was serving as the droids base. It was where all of the vehicles were, so Chewbacca was thinking of hijacking some of them and attacking the droids from the rear. "I still think we should find Tarfful first though," said Shinji. Chewbacca agreed.

They fought their way through the battlefield, searching for the Wookie General. They found him, leading a well organized defense against the droids that were coming in through the seawall. They met up with him and leant a helping hand. As they were fighting, Shinji told him about both his and Chewbacca's plans. And of course, Tarfful sided with Chewie's plan. "alright fine," said Shinji, "Have it your way." Of course, executing Chewie's plan would require surviving. And between the seemingly endless sea of droids and the slowly depleting 501st and Wookie army, surviving didn't seem likely. Eventually Shinji, Chewbacca, Tarfful, and their small unit, found themselves being forced back. They fought as hard as they could, but it didn't look like it would be enough. Shinji knew that this was it. He grew very sad, thinking of the wookie village that was located nearby. Without the 501st's help, the village would most likely be destroyed and the Wookies enslaved. He was also sad, because he knew that he wouldn't be able to see Rei again.

However, despite his premonitions of defeat, he fought on. The very least he could do was take out as many droids as he could, before the inevitable happened. Then suddenly, Shinji's hope was restored.

A green blur, moving an incredible speed, launched itself through the droids. Shinji had never seen anything move that fast! The Blur zig-zagged through the droids, causing absolute chaos amongst their ranks. And out of nowhere, clones appeared. Some of them where from the 501st and the rest were from the 41st Elite Corps. The 41st were being led by Commander Gree, and the 501st reinforcements were being led by none other than Red. The Blur kept coming, demolishing droids as it made it's way to Shinji. The Blur stopped moving, and it only took Shinji and the two Wookie commanders to recognize him.

"Proud I am, to stand by the Wookies in their hour of need," said Master Yoda. Shinji couldn't believe it. He had never seen Yoda move that fast, let alone jump about the way he did. "Oh Shinji," said Yoda, "Doing well you are. Take it from here I will." Yoda was about to jump back into the battle.

"Master Yoda, wait!" Shinji said.

"Hmm?" Shinji explained Chewbacca's plan to Yoda. "A good plan it is," said Yoda, "But need it we will not. Rest you three must. Done enough today you have. Take it from here, Yoda will." Shinji saluted, and Yoda leapt into the droids.

888

With the timely arrival of Master Yoda, the 41st Elite, and Red's part of the 501st , The droids were forced to retreat. Chewbacca was a little bit disappointed that he wouldn't be able to use his plan, which he knew would have been successful. But he was glad that Yoda had arrived when he did. Shinji, Chewie, Tarfful, and Yoda were sitting around a campfire. They were discussing tomorrow's battle plan. Shinji had the holocron with him, and they were putting it to good use. They looked at the list of droid strategies on the holocron, and were devising counter plans for each one. Shinji and Chewbacca also described that day's events, to help identify what kind of droids they were up against, as well as estimate the numbers of each kind. After much discussion, as well as a few heated debates (mostly between Shinji and Chewie), they finally managed to create a defense for each and everyone of the droids' predicted moves. That was the wonderful thing about droids: they were predictable. They weren't very good (possibly incapable) at making plans on the spot.

With all of the planning out of the way, Shinji went to bed. However as he slept, he had a strange dream. There were lightsabers. Hundreds of them, all green and blue, with the exception of one purple one. Suddenly, a red lightsaber appeared. It began fighting the others. It destroyed two blues, two greens, and the purple. Then, one of the blue lightsabers turned red, and began attacking the others, while the first red lightsaber disappeared. One by one, the lightsabers fell, until only two remained: the second red one, and a blue one. The two began fighting, and suddenly the scene was covered with flame. The blades clashed, striking each other again and again. The blue one defeated the red one, which fell into the fire. The blue lightsaber disappeared. The original red lightsaber came and pulled the other one out of the fire. Only now, the shining silver handle that had once been there, was a sleek black color.

Shinji did not understand the dream at all, and it disturbed him almost to the point of waking up. However the dream, or rather, nightmare, disappeared. It was replaced by a much more pleasant dream. He saw Rei, in a white dress. She looked happy. He looked around and saw several people he'd never seen before, but he felt like he knew them. He saw one person he knew. It was Chewbacca, but he seemed much older now. He was sitting with a small group of people that Shinji felt he knew very well, though he knew he'd never met them. Everyone seemed very happy, and soon the worry his previous nightmare had given him went away.

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Man, what was all that about? First a delve into Shinji's past, revealing why the jedi hadn't found him in time. And then Shinji's astounding grasp of Wookie language! Plus two dreams, one disturbing and the other happy, though still just as strange. What do they mean?

Next time! Utapau Invasion: Shinji vs.Greivous!

P.S: Don't get used to that /\, I'm only going to do that sometimes.


	10. utapau invasion: shinji vs grievous

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Time for Utapau! Who will come out on top? General Shinji? Or General Grievous? And as you all know, Order 66 is now dangerously, dangerously close.

PS: It's still primarily Obi-Wan's fight. But, Shinji will help Obi-Wan during the fight, no worries.

And to everyone who is waiting to see Rei and Shinji together again... You're gonna have to wait. Don't worry, it will be in the next chapter, but that may take a while to write. It's probably going to replace 'Coruscant' as my longest chapter. And, school is starting again soon, so I won't be able to get these chapters out so quickly. Hope this tides you over.

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When Shinji woke up the next morning, he had almost no memory of either dream. However, he still had the curious sense of dread that the first dream had caused. He tried to shake it off. All he could remember was that there was something to do with lightsabers. He, quite groggily, set off to join the clones and Wookies, who were enjoying an early breakfast. He grabbed some food and sat down. He didn't have much of an appetite at the moment though. The feeling that the dream had created... What was it? What had the dream been trying to tell him.

He sat there, picking at his food and trying to recall more details. Yoda entered the mess area to get some breakfast as well, and almost instantly sensed Shinji's confusion. He grabbed a plate and hobbled over to where Shinji was sitting. He sat down and began eating.

"Troubled are you Shinji?" asked Yoda.

"A bit Master Yoda," answered Shinji.

"Care to tell me do you?" asked Yoda, "Help you it may."

"Well," said Shinji, "It was a dream I had. I can't remember all of it, only bits and pieces. I only remember that there were lightsabers, everywhere. And something about fire. And there was a lot of fighting between the lightsabers. But that's all I can remember." Shinji sighed and continued to pick at his food.

"Hmm, very strange this dream was you say?" said Yoda. "Remember nothing else do you?"

"No," answered Shinji. "And that's the worst part. It gave me a bad feeling, and it seemed to be trying to tell me something. I wish I remembered more. I'm sorry."

"Alright it is," said Yoda, patting Shinji on the shoulder. "But a feeling you say it gave you?"

"Yes."

"Listen to your feelings you must. Important it is, especially if from a dream it comes. A gateway to you the Force makes when dreaming you are. And try to tell you things, the Force often does. But sure you are, that remember nothing else you do?" Shinji thought about it, trying to bring up even the smallest scrap of memory, anything that could serve as a clue.

"Well," said Shinji, "I remember something about a red lightsaber."

"Red?"

"Yes. Is that important?"

"Red, a Sith's lightsaber is," said Yoda. "A premonition of a sith attack it may have been. Only one you say?"

"I think so," said Shinji. "There's a lot of blank spots, but I definitely saw fighting between a red lightsaber and the others. But that's all I can remember." Yoda sat there, contemplating this. After a while, he looked at Shinji, who looked a bit upset.

"Dwell on it not," said Yoda. "One sith, the jedi can handle. Worry about it not. A dream brought by stress it may have been. Worry about it not." Shinji smiled at Yoda.

"You're probably right," he said. "Thank you Master Yoda." Shinji began to eat his food, his appetite returned. Yoda looked at Shinji, only now he was the one with the bad feeling. This dream of Shinji's had meant something.

Something important.

888

Later that week, Shinji and Yoda were watching the battle progress from a platform, high above the trees. Shinji was only up here at Yoda's request. Yoda had been talking with the Jedi Council moments ago. Apparently, the Supreme Chancellor had somehow discovered that Grievous was on Utapau. Obi-Wan was being sent to investigate. If Grievous was there, then Shinji and the 501st would no doubt be called in to fight. But that's not what was on Shinji's mind right now.

'I should be down there,' he thought, looking down at the melee. Yoda could see, and feel, that Shinji was quite anxious. He knew that Shinji wanted to be fighting with his men. But, he needed to be up here, in case Obi-Wan made his call. In a matter of hours, they got the call. The 501st had been called to help Obi-Wan Kenobi fight on Utapau. Obi-Wan had not engaged Grievous yet. Shinji gave a found fair well to Yoda, Tarfful, and Chewbacca. Chewbacca was a bit sad to see him go. He and Shinji had grown to be very good friends, and rivals, during Shinji's short stay on Kashyyyk. And Shinji was a bit sad to leave as well. He had grown used to the Wookies. He had seen right past their tough exterior, and seen that underneath all of their ferociousness on the battlefield, they were really just big teddy bears. But, that's why he liked them so much.

Shinji radioed Alex and Red, who were helping to organize the ground troops, and told them that they had been called to help Obi-Wan on Utapau. Luckily, the 501st hadn't been the forerunners of the battle: the 41st were in the lead, so the 501st leaving wouldn't be a big loss. The two Commanders gathered up the majority of the 501st, leaving some behind to help on Kashyyyk, and they made their way to the Venator. They took off, and went into hyperspace.

888

The 501st arrived at Utapau, where they were radioed by Obi-Wan.

"Ahh Shinji," said Obi-Wan cheerfully, "There you are. I'm minutes away from Grievous. I want you to stealthily start entering on the 10th level. You'll know what I mean when you get there. Try to be as careful as possible to avoid being seen. There are droids everywhere."

"Alright," said Shinji, "May the Force be with you Master Kenobi."

"May the Force be with you as well," said Kenobi. The transmission ended.

"Alright you heard the man," said Shinji to his troops. "He said he wants stealth. Everyone, go and attach those new silencers that we got. I want you all ready in," He paused to look at the time, "Three minutes. Alright?"

"Sir Yes Sir!" The clones all ran to get the necessary equipment. In no time, They all had their silencers attached, and were ready to go. However, due to the need for stealth and speed, Shinji could only bring so many at a time. He handpicked a group of his fourteen best men, including Red and Alex of course, and they loaded into an LAAT. Before he left, he gave his men specific orders.

"I want small teams of twenty or less to land on each level," said Shinji. "Make your way up to the tenth level quickly and quietly. When the battle starts, I want the rest of you to come down and help as well. Understood?"

"Sir Yes Sir!" Shinji's LAAT took off, and made its way down to the planet. They stuck to the shadows the whole time, not wanting to make their presence known whatsoever, not even to the Utai or the Pau'ans. Shinji brought the ship in at the western end of the 10th level platform. It was the least guarded are true, but it was unfortunately the farthest point from where Grievous was. Shinji and his team got out of the LAAT, and Shinji used the auto pilot to move it back out of sight. He looked around, and saw very few droids. Thankfully, they were still in the shadows. Shinji pulled out his Precision Pistol, and signaled for his team to do the same. He had brought three snipers along with him, and he gave them the signal to use their sniper rifles. There were currently only four droids in sight, but they were very strategically placed. If one was destroyed, the other three were placed in just the right spots to see it.

'Crafty old cyborg,' thought Shinji. He gave a signal for the snipers to aim. Each of them aimed at one, and fired at the same time. The droids fell simultaneously.

Moving quickly, Shinji and the Team gathered up the droids' bodies and hid them. Shinji looked down the hall way. As it went along, it was guarded by more and more droids. They kept moving, silently taking out all of the droids that they could. They made it to about half way down the hallway, where they were forced to hide. There were far to many droids to take out quietly. Shinji tried to come up with a plan. The only one he had was very risky. He and everyone in his Team, minus the snipers, would have to switch to their primary weapons. Using assault rifles, they would be able to do the job easier, but there was a very high risk involved. After all, a bunch of clones firing assault rifles, regardless of wether or not the guns were silent, would be very easy to spot. Shinji knew that his small Team wouldn't be able to take them all fast enough.

A call came on Shinji's communicator. "Sir," said the clone voice quietly, "We've made our way up to level ten. We will be with you shortly." Shinji waited for a few minutes. Suddenly, in the distance, he heard talking. Loud talking. It sounded like someone was arguing. The droids in the hall way became distracted. Thankfully, the second Team arrived at that moment. Shinji gave the signal, and they began firing. They were incredibly careful to take out the droids quickly, and one row at a time. After the droids were taken out, Shinji lead the two Teams down the hallway, towards the hanger. They stayed in the shadows.

They got there just in time to see Obi-Wan drop down from the ceiling. Grievous ordered his droids to attack. Obi-Wan used the Force and brought down a light fixture (or something like that) and crushed the droids. The droids were about to attack when Grievous stopped them.

"Wait," he said, "I will deal with this Jedi Slime, myself." He removed his cape, which slid to the floor. "I was trained in your jedi arts by Count Dooku." His arms split into four, and he activated four lightsabers. "Attack General Kenobi. Grievous's lightsabers began spinning. Obi-Wan attacked, and the fight began. No longer waiting for a signal, Shinji ran out from the hiding place. His Teams followed. Suddenly, the 212th Attack Battalion descended, and began they're attack. They began firing at the droids. Kenobi cut one of Grievous's hands off. It had been holding a blue lightsaber.

'Perfect,' thought Shinji. He ran over and rolled near where the lightsaber landed. He got up and activated his lightsaber. The illusion had worked perfectly. Everyone had simply thought that he had picked up Grievous's fallen lightsaber. He began helping Kenobi fight Grievous.

"Ahh," said Grievous, as he brought down one of his lightsabers at Shinji, "Judging by your moves, you must be General Shinji. I have heard a great deal about you." He kicked Obi-Wan in the gut, sending him sliding across the floor. He began attacking Shinji full force. It took all that he had to block the cyborg's attacks. "They say that you defeated an Acklay." _Bzzt! _Lightsaber one

"They say that you can't be stopped." _Bzzt!_ Lightsaber two.

"They say that you can't die." _Bzzt!_ Lightsaber three. "I'd like to test that theory." Grievous raised all three lightsabers and brought them down. Shinji blocked, but Grievous kept pushing down. Shinji was forced to his knees under the cyborg's immense strength.

Suddenly, Obi-Wan attacked from behind. Grievous heard him in time and turned to block. Shinji took the opportunity, and cut off one of Grievous's hands. "Augh!" exclaimed Grievous. He kicked Shinji, sending him sliding across the floor. Grievous looked down through the openings in the floor, and saw the number of clones who were attacking. He looked at Shinji, who was getting up, and then at Kenobi, who was advancing on him slowly. "Army or not," said Grievous, "You, are, doomed."

"I don't think so," said Kenobi. He pulled back his hand, and then shot it forward, using the Force to send Grievous flying. He dropped his lightsabers. As he got up, he saw Shinji and Kenobi both moving towards him, lightsabers first.

'Aw screw this,' thought Grievous. He ran past them, knocking them over. He got into his wheel bike, and took off. Obi-Wan called Boga, and gave chase. Realizing that Obi-Wan was now on his own, and that he could no longer help, Shinji deactivated his lightsaber and pulled out his Elite Rifle. He turned around and began blasting droids. He fought his way down to the lower level (level 9), and met up with Commander Cody.

"Commander Cody," said Shinji.

"General Shinji," said Cody. They began coming up with a plan. General Grievous had laid the droid defenses very well. However, because of it, he had also revealed the droids' weak point. They were guarding an energy tower. It was providing power for many droid operations, as well as recharging their tanks. He had revealed it by placing one too many droid guards around it. If it hadn't been for them, Shinji and Cody might not have even taken a second glance at it. However, it was back up on the tenth level. Shinji radioed Commanders Red and Alex.

"There's an energy tower up on the tenth level," said Shinji. "You can't miss it, it's guarded by a ton of battle droids. Gather a force and head to destroy it. I'll meet you up there to lend some support."

"Alright," said Red.

"We'll get right on it," said Alex. Shinji gathered up a force of clones, and they began fighting their way back up to the tenth level. Droids were swarming everywhere. Luckily, they were in severe confusion. They hadn't planned on an ambush at all. And as Shinji well knew, droids without a plan tend to make a lot of mistakes. They fought their way up, and found Alex and Red leading an assault on the energy tower. Shinji organized the clones, using the same strategy as he had used on Kashyyyk. Two lines of rocket launchers, one fires and reloads, the second fires while the first reloads, and so on. He also set up a defensive around the lines, owing to the large amount of droids in the area. Shinji personally led the defense of course, just like he always did. But, Shinji saw a small force of about five AAT's coming their way. He urged the clones on to greater efforts to take down the tower.

The tower collapsed under the heavy damage. It came down hard, actually smashing a couple of the AAT's that were en route. But there were still three left.

"Group A!" exclaimed Shinji, "Left tank! Group B, Right Tank!"

"Sir Yes Sir!" the clones fired at the tanks, destroying them in a matter of seconds. But, before he could order an attack on the last tank, it fired its main cannon! The blast went flying into Shinji's group. Shinji, Red, and Alex just barely managed to dodge. Shinji got up, and saw the devastation that the tank had done. His entire unit had been wiped out. Their bodies lay everywhere. Shinji looked back at the tank, rage and blood-lust in his eyes. He ran straight at the charging tank. He jumped up onto it, and ran up it's front. He activated his lightsaber and cut the main gun off. He also destroyed its side guns. But, the AAT kept moving, straight at the recovering Red and Alex.

Shinji jumped off of the tank, grabbing the front end. No one knew exactly how it happened, but for years to follow the event became a legend amongst the men of the 501st Legion. Shinji stopped the tank. He grabbed the front end of it and planted his feet firmly on the ground. The tank kept moving, but as Shinji pushed it, it slowed down. And then, the unthinkable happened. The AAT... grinded to a halt.

The droids inside pushed the controls to the max, but it wouldn't move. In fact the motor overheated because of the effort, and stalled. Shinji realized that it wasn't pushing forward anymore, because he was suddenly moving it backwards. He jumped up and ran along the tank. He took a grenade and shoved it into what had used to be the main cannon. Shinji jumped off of the tank and ran back to a safe distance as the thermal detonator made its way inside the tank's controls. It exploded, sending bits of metal flying. Shinji ran over to his friends, who remained unmoving due to the intense shock that comes from seeing what they had just seen.

"Are you alright?" asked Shinji.

"How did- What was- How?" was all Alex managed to stutter.

"What?" asked Shinji.

"The tank," said Red, "You just stopped a charging AAT with your bear hands." He pointed behind Shinji. Shinji looked at the wrecked tank. Just like after he had learned that he had jumped off of a twenty foot cliff, Shinji almost fainted. How had that happened? Even though he had just done it, his memory of it was fuzzy. It was like he hadn't been thinking when he did it.

"And was that a lightsaber?" asked Red, getting Shinji's full attention. He had unwittingly revealed his secret weapon yet again.

"Yes," said Shinji, "But don't tell anyone. Its supposed to be kept secret and only used in emergencies. Please don't tell anyone."

"Alright," said Red. He and Alex got up and brushed themselves off. Suddenly, Shinji got a call over his communicator. It was.. The Supreme Chancellor!? He looked terrible, as if he had suddenly aged about 50 years.

"Ah General Shinji," he said. "Oh, and I see that Commanders Alex and Red are there as well. Good good. Listen carefully. I need you three back on Coruscant immediately."

"Sir?" said Shinji.

"I see you are confused," said Palpatine. "Everything will be made clear to you when you arrive. Bring your best weapons and hurry here." And then to Red and Alex he said, "This is Order 66. You know what to do."

"Yes My Lord," said Red.

"Right away My Lord," said Alex. The communication ended. Shinji was confused.

"What's Order 66?" he asked.

"No time to explain," said Alex. "We need to get back to the Venator. Now." They got inside an LAAT and flew to the ship. As they were going, Shinji began questioning the Commanders. "Is Coruscant under droid attack?" asked Shinji.

"Not exactly," said Alex. "Order 66 means that we're being attacked by... Well, let's just say that it's not droids."

'So it's organics we're fighting,' thought Shinji. Once they were there, they went to the LAAT that contained Shinji's EVA. Before getting in to pilot, Shinji ran back to his room to get something. He new he would be needing them.

They took off, going into hyperspace almost immediately after leaving the hanger. They would be back on Coruscant in about an hour.

888

Rei was asleep in her room in the Jedi Temple. She had gone to bed early. She had just heard that General Grievous had been destroyed. That meant that Shinji would be home tomorrow, and she wanted to be up early to see him. She hugged her teddy bear close to her chest, and started dreaming about tomorrow.

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Order 66 is about to be given. Shinji was only called first, because he's going to be under Anakin's direct leadership as he leads the assault on the Jedi Temple. But what did he get from his room? What could he possibly have needed? And how did he stop that tank? And what will happen to Rei, who is inside the doomed Temple?

Find out the answers to all of these questions in the next chapter- Knightfall: Order 66, the end of an Era.


	11. knightfall: order 66, the end of an era

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Here it is. Order 66. Anakin's leading the attack on the Jedi Temple, with Shinji in tow.

P.S: This is the third Super-Chapter, so get comfortable. This is going to be a long read. This is not only order 66, but the entire end of Episode III as well. And if it seems a little bit confusing at times, then I've done my job right. What could be more confusing than attacking the Jedi? And if it seems rushy... My bad. And sorry about the wait, I've been busy with school and such.

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"What!?" exclaimed Shinji in horror, "That's impossible!" He had just been told what Order 66 was. And he was appalled.

Shinji, Alex, and Red had arrived on Coruscant just moments ago, and met up with Anakin. He already had many of the 501st with him, because Captain J0-5H had been on security detail for the planet. Anakin had just told him what the Order was.

"Anakin," said Shinji, "You can't expect me to believe that the Jedi are trying to take over."

"They are," answered Anakin. "I saw Master Windu try to kill Chancellor Palpatine with my own eyes. And my name isn't Anakin anymore... It's Darth Vader." Shinji looked at his friend in confusion and disbelief. Darth? That was supposed to be only a title that the Sith used. Did that mean..? No, it couldn't be. Anakin would never become a Sith. What was going on? "Why are you just standing there?" demanded Anakin, "Are you coming or not?" Shinji thought for a second. He suddenly remembered that Rei was still in the Temple! And he realized he had only one option if he was going to save her.

"Yes," he said, "Right away." He hurried and got into the lead column of troopers. They began to march, Anakin in the lead, with Shinji right behind. They marched right up the Temple stairs, and then into the Temple itself. Once they were inside, a jedi noticed them.

'This is odd,' thought the Jedi. He ran over to Anakin. "What's going on?" he asked. "Why do you have so many clones with you? Is there- Auugh!" Anakin cut him down. Shinji was horrified. He had never seen someone die like that right in front of him. It was different much than seeing one of the clones die, after all, they were wearing helmets. He had never seen the look of agony that passed across someone's face as they were killed... And he didn't like it. Not at all.

All of the jedi heard the fallen jedi's scream and looked to the oncoming clones and Anakin. Then they activated their lightsabers and attacked. They ran at the 501st, who began firing. Shinji didn't want to attack, but he knew he had to. He fired, taking a jedi out quickly.

'I really hope that this doesn't hurt them,' thought Shinji as he fought. He fought hard, taking down jedi at an incredible speed. Needless to say, his men were impressed. Most of them were having difficulty killing one jedi, but there was Shinji taking them down left and right. Guess that's why he was the General. They dropped like flies before Shinji. Unbeknownst to them however, Shinji had a secret to taking the jedi out. A secret that none of them could've guessed in a million years.

Shinji kept firing, cutting through the jedi ranks like a hot knife through butter. He fought fiercely, determined to get to as many jedi as possible before the rest of the 501st. The jedi saw Shinji's amazing battle prowess as a severe threat. This one soldier seemed like he could singlehandedly wipe out the Jedi Order. Ten jedi swarmed at him from all directions, causing the clones to create a defensive wall around him. Shinji tried to take out as many of the jedi as he could before they reached him. But, there were still three left. They cut down the clones around him and attempted to attack. Shinji fired at one, bringing her down. He rolled out of the way, just in time to avoid being sliced to pieces by the two remaining jedi. He shot them both.

All ten of their bodies littered the ground, not counting the others Shinji had dealt with. Anakin looked at Shinji in surprise. He had never seen his friend fight with such a drive before. He didn't know what was causing Shinji to do this but whatever it was, he liked it. Anakin went back to his own slaughter. Shinji looked at the ten jedi on the ground with... pride. He felt oddly proud of what he was doing. He went back to the attack fiercely. Shinji fired at the oncoming jedi.

To his men, and the jedi, he seemed to be everywhere at once. He took down the jedi one after another. Before they knew it, Shinji had successfully taken out thirty jedi. And the number was growing. He knew that if he didn't, someone else would. And that was the last thing that he wanted to happen. He was trying to save as many jedi as possible. Suddenly, a clone fired a rocket at one of the pillars. It came crashing down, sending rubble everywhere.

888

Rei was roughly awaken by a loud noise coming from somewhere outside of her room. 'What was that?' she thought as she walked to the door. 'It sounded like... an explosion. But how?' She looked outside and saw it. There were clones everywhere, and they were... attacking the jedi!? She couldn't believe what she was seeing. 'Why are the clones attacking?' she thought. She looked closely at the colors on their armor. 'Blue? Wait, that is the 501st's color! That means that Shinji... No, he would not be here attacking the jedi. Would he?' She watched the battle for a few more moments, before quickly shutting her door. She looked around her room. She knew the Jedi Temple very well by now. During her stay, she had been allowed to wander about as she wished and she had done just that. She now had an intimate knowledge of the Jedi Temple. She knew her way around all of the hallways, even the ones that the Jedi had kept secret.

She grabbed her bear and was about to leave, when she remembered something. The children! There were several rooms near hers that belonged to younglings. She could not leave them behind. She quietly slipped out of her room, and made her way down the hallway. The hallway, save for the one entrance that was right across from her door, was completely hidden from where the clones were attacking. As she passed by their rooms, she went inside and woke the sleeping younglings. There were five rooms in the hallway, not counting hers. She entered the first room, a girl's and woke her up.

"Miss Rei?" the girl asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes."What's going on?" She heard the noise coming from outside. "What are all of those noises?"

"Something bad is happening," said Rei. "Just come with me. I am going to get you and the others to safety." The girl grabbed her training saber and followed Rei to the other rooms. Once she had gotten all five children, they made their way down the hallway. After a ways, Rei stopped. She began feeling the wall. It was around here somewhere... Aha. _Click_. The secret door panel opened, and Rei beckoned the younglings inside. She closed the panel behind her, and began leading the children through the secret hallway.

As they went along, Rei looked back at the children. 'Poor things,' she thought, 'They're terrified." They came to another wall, and Rei started feeling around for the secret door. Suddenly there was another explosion, this time very close, and very loud. The youngest girl in the group began to cry. "Oh," asked Rei, "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared," answered the little girl.

"Come here," said Rei. She took the girl in her arms. "Don't worry," she said. "Don't cry. I will not let anything happen to you. Any of you." The girl sniffled a little. "Here," said Rei, handing her the bear. "I hold onto this when I feel scared."

"You mean you get scared too?" asked a little boy in the group.

"Yes," said Rei. "It is natural to feel fear sometimes."

"Well don't worry," said the little boy, puffing out his chest and trying to look tough. "I'm here! And I'm not going to let nothin' bad happen to nobody!" Rei gave a small smile, admiring the child's bravery. She went back to finding the secret door. She found it, and they continued making their way through the passageways.

888

Shinji had never expected to find Hell in the Jedi Temple. And that's what he saw now. Hell.

There were fires everywhere. Several pillars had been toppled, adding to the large amount of debris on the ground. Dead bodies littered the ground, of both clones and jedi. Chaos seemed to rule the scene. Shinji did what he could. He kept track of each jedi that he shot. He was getting close to fifty. He kept firing. The jedi were growing less and less, but they were still a very formidable force. Unfortunately, as much as he wished he could, Shinji wasn't able to get all of them. His men beat him to many of the jedi.

'Still,' thought Shinji, 'Fifty saved is better than none at all.' He kept firing. He hated to fight the jedi, but he knew that he had to. There was one thing he liked about fighting them though. They never tried to attack from behind. The jedi had too much honor to employ such an underhanded tactic. As he was fighting, he kept a sharp lookout for Rei. She could be anywhere around here. He just hoped that wherever she was, she was safe.

Just then, he got a call over his communicator. "General," said the clone voice, "We need your help. The Supreme Chancellor has requested that we keep the Jedi Library intact. But the jedi are-auugh!" Shinji saw the clone get cut in half by a lightsaber. Suddenly, the jedi was shot down, and another clone picked up the communicator.

"This is Red," said the clone, "We need you to help us defend these holobooks."

"On my way," said Shinji. He ran towards the library. Once inside, he saw the jedi attacking not only the clones, but the bookcases as well. It was odd though, to see anyone attacking the Library. He could remember many times when he was younger, having come in here. He had always been able to find something interesting to read. The thought of anyone attacking the books was absurd. Shinji began firing, taking a jedi out almost instantly. Some of the jedi turned their attention on this new and dangerous intruder, and began to attack. Shinji kept firing. His aim was impeccable. Of course, closer inspection would have revealed that he didn't usually aim for the head or chest.

Several jedi attempted to take him down, but none could even get close. Those that even got close to getting close were gunned down by either Shinji or one of the nearby clones. Shinji looked around to see about eight full bookcases left.

'Okay,' he thought, 'If I can keep these defended for a few minutes, the jedi may leave.' He began setting up a hasty defense plan. He put up about ten clones near each bookcase. He and a team of sixteen stood in the middle of all of the books to provide some support. Jedi began dropping down from the upper floor of the library. Shinji and the clones began firing. They took down as many as they could, but some still slipped by. One of the bookcases exploded.

'Seven left,' thought Shinji as he continued to fire. Then there was another explosion. 'Six.' Thankfully, the number of jedi were waning. And soon, they weren't coming at all.

Suddenly, he saw Anakin heading in the direction of the Council Chamber. He began to follow him. He still had to make his way through the attacking jedi, and they weren't making it easy for him. Suddenly, a jedi rushed at Shinji. It was Shaak Ti. He rolled out of the way and tried to fire, but his gun jammed! She slashed at him, but he moved out of the way. He pulled out his lightsaber, knowing that it was the only way to defend himself from the attacking jedi.

The girl in question got angrier at seeing the lightsaber. This clone must've taken it off of a dead jedi. She attacked with vigor, hoping to cut her opponent down and avenge the wrongful death of whoever the saber belonged to. She figured that it wouldn't be a problem, as the clone wouldn't have any training with the weapon.

She brought the blade down, which he attempted to block, but suddenly she shifted and tried from the side. 'I've got him now,' thought Shaak Ti. Suddenly, to her horror, the opponent successfully blocked. She kept attacking, but he kept blocking. She noticed that as they were fighting, her opponent had gotten several opportunities to attack. But he fought with a defensive style that reminded her of her lessons with Yoda. In fact, this reminded her of a training duel that she'd had with that boy who used to hang around the temple. She had been called in that day to give a demonstration. The boy had fought with a style almost identical to this one. That boy who had become part of... the 501st!?

"Shinji?" she said.

"Yes?" asked the person in the clone armor. She was horrified.

"How could you?" Shinji hung his head.

"I'm sorry," he said, "But this is for your own good." Before she could react (due to the shock at fighting Shinji) he pulled out his pistol and fired. Shaak Ti looked down at where he'd hit her.

'In the leg?' she thought, her thoughts becoming cloudy, 'Why there?' she collapsed to the ground. Shinji looked at her. Then he started un-jamming his rifle.

"Thank the Force for guns like this," he thought as he worked. He quickly fixed the problem and went back to trying to get to the Council Chamber. Anakin going there could only mean one thing: jedi. He took off running towards the chambers, hoping that he could get there soon enough to save some, if not all, of Anakin's potential targets. He ran down the hallway towards the stairs. He climbed the stairs and saw Anakin moving through the Chamber doors. He ran to catch up. He arrived just in time.

"Master Skywalker," said the little blonde boy, "There are too many of them. What are we going to do?" Anakin activated his lightsaber. He raised it. He tried to bring it down, but couldn't.

'What?' Anakin thought. He looked up to see his lightsaber being blocked by another lightsaber, one that was being held by... an armored hand? He looked next to him and saw Shinji, helmet on the ground and with a determined look on his face. "What are you doing?" asked Anakin angrily.

"What I need to do," answered Shinji. He swiftly moved in front of the children, keeping his lightsaber trained towards Anakin.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Anakin.

"I'm not about to let you harm these kids," said Shinji. "What do these kids have to do with anything? Look at them!" Anakin looked at them, seeing five scared and confused faces. "Do they look like enemies to you?"

"...Yes!" said Anakin. He attacked! He brought his blade crashing down at Shinji, who blocked just in time. Anakin kept applying his strength. Shinji was forced to his knees. He pushed back, but Anakin seemed to be prevailing. Shinji suddenly rolled to the side, catching Anakin off guard. He slashed at his side, but Anakin blocked. Shinji jumped back and kept up his defensive position. Anakin struck at him. Shinji parried and struck back. Their lightsabers met again and again. Shinji quickly aimed a sweeping kick at Anakin. Anakin jumped up over Shinji and attempted to hit him from the back. Shinji blocked and then rolled forward. He got up and spun around. Unfortunately, Anakin was no longer paying attention to him.

His back was turned to Shinji, and he was heading towards the children! Shinji took one look at their frightened faces, and knew what he had to do. He rushed at Anakin, and prepared to strike at his unprotected back. But Anakin sensed him at the last second and spun around to block. Shinji struck out and Anakin parried. Shinji blocked Anakin's attack and tried to counter. Shinji spun around, attacking as he did. He was very hard to hit now, spinning and blocking every few seconds. Shinji struck once more, and then jumped back. He was panting now, as was Anakin. Shinji was now in front of the children again. Anakin was next to the door. He looked down to see Shinji's discarded helmet.

"Kids," said Shinji, "Stay behind me and the chairs." Anakin suddenly threw his lightsaber at Shinji. Shinji blocked it. Suddenly, his helmet came flying at him! It smacked him right in the face, causing him to fall over. He got up and brushed his hand across his now bleeding lip.

"So that's how it has to be then?" asked Shinji as Anakin's lightsaber returned to him.

"I'm afraid so," said Anakin. He rushed at Shinji, preparing for to take a slash at Shinji' left. Shinji moved to block, but Anakin changed it to an attack from the top at the last second. Shinji still managed to block. But, with Shinji blocking from the top, that made his stomach a weak spot. Anakin kicked him in the stomach, sending him crashing backwards into one of the chairs. Anakin raised his lightsaber an brought it down. Shinji blocked, and kicked Anakin's feet out from under him. Shinji leapt up and caught Anakin before he fell. And, as much as he hated to, he delivered his knee into Anakin's stomach. He pushed Anakin away from him, and went back to his defensive position. Anakin caught his breath and looked at Shinji angrily.

"If you're going to get in my way," he said, raising his left hand, "Then you're my enemy." Shinji suddenly felt himself choking. He dropped his lightsaber and grabbed at his neck, gasping for air.

888

Rei lead her five small charges through the secret passageways of the besieged Jedi Temple. She was keeping them calm, telling them that everything would be alright. She knew that she couldn't bring them outside, as there would undoubtably be troopers guarding the exits. She was moving them to a place that she felt would be safe. The Jedi Council Chamber. Why would the clones come looking in there? After all, any Jedi Master at the Temple would be out in the hallways right now, trying to beat back the clones. She led them through the final passage, and into the Chamber.

"Alright," Rei said to the younglings, "You will be safe here. Stay here until help arrives."

"Where are you going Miss Rei?" asked one of the children.

"I'm going to try and find more younglings and lead them here," answered Rei. She walked back into the passage and began to close the wall. It was almost completely closed, when she suddenly heard a voice.

"Master Skywalker," said one of the younglings. Rei looked back. Through the crack that was left open She saw Anakin standing there. "There are too many of them. What are we going to do?" She saw Anakin activate his lightsaber. Suddenly, as she was about to move and protect the younglings, She saw Shinji walk in, full armor except for his helmet, and activate his lightsaber. She watched the fight that ensued, marveling at Shinji's amazing grasp of lightsaber combat. She watched right up until Shinji kneed Anakin in the gut.

"If you're going to get in my way," she heard Anakin say, "Then you're my enemy." She saw him raise his left hand, and saw Shinji drop his lightsaber and start choking. She ran out of the passageway and kicked Anakin in the back. Anakin immediately let go of Shinji and started gasping in pain. Rei could deliver quite a kick! However, the pain only stopped him for a few seconds. He turned to his attacker, and was surprised to see her. But only for a second.

"Ahh, Senator Ayanami," he said, "How nice of you to join us. You can join the other traitors!" He began chocking her as well.

"Let go of her you monster!" cried Shinji. He had recovered just enough. He rushed at Anakin with almost inhuman speed. He elbowed him in the side, causing him to once again lose control of his Death Pinch. While he was distracted, Shinji quickly grabbed Rei, who was coughing terribly because of the Pinch, and ran her over to where the kids were hiding behind the chairs. He put her down and grabbed his lightsaber. He ran back at Anakin. Anakin raised his lightsaber and blocked. Shinji started hammering down at Anakin, the most aggressive attack Anakin had ever faced. "No one-!" _Bzzt_! "Does that-!" _Bzzt_! "To-!" _Bzzt_! "Rei!" _Bzzt_! He kept hammering down on Anakin. Anakin Force-Pushed him away, sending him flying a few feet into the air. Shinji hit the floor hard, but was back on his feet in seconds.

Shinji rushed at Anakin, ready to strike. Anakin blocked, and their lightsabers clashed. They both pushed hard, but niether blade moved. Shinji kicked out at Anakin, who jumped back. Anakin tried Pinching Shinji again. But this time, Shinji was ready.

As soon as he felt his airways start to close, he sucked in as much air as he could, forcing it down his throat. Anakin kept his hold on Shinji, who just stood their, minimalizing his oxygen use.

"Think about what you're doing," said Shinji in a raspy voice. "Anakin, please." Even though he was holding his breath, Shinji could feel his strength ebbing away. He fell to his knees. "Anakin please," he said, beginning to grab at his neck. "It's me, Shinji. I'm your friend." Shinji grabbed at his throat, things starting to get dark.

_Friend_. The word echoed through Anakin's mind. _Shinji_. That too found its way into Anakin's mind. 'What am I doing?!' Anakin released Shinji instantly, and rushed over to him. Shinji had collapsed to the floor completely because of the lack of air. "Shinji?" said Anakin as he reached him. He picked Shinji up and shook his shoulders. "Shinji?" No response. "Shinji!?" he shook his shoulders again. "Oh no," said Anakin. "What have I done?" He began to weep over his friends body. Suddenly, Shinji started coughing. "Shinji? Oh thank the Force!" Shinji opened his eyes. "Oh Shinji," said Anakin remorsely, "I'm so sorry. I-I wasn't thinking."

"I'll say you weren't," said Shinji, rubbing his neck. "Anakin, I don't know exactly what's going on. But these kids," he pointed to the younglings, who were now crowding around Rei for comfort (seeing someone being choked was not a pleasant experience). "These kids aren't part of this. If you have to attack the Jedi, then do it." Shinji got up. "But these kids aren't jedi."

"But I have to," said Anakin, "It's the only way to save Padme."

"What's wrong with Padme?" asked Rei.

"She's going to die," said Anakin, "Unless I can use the Dark Side. And I have to defeat the jedi to do it. All of them. It's what my Master said."

"Well I don't know who your Master is," said Shinji, "But if you don't tell him, we won't. As long as he thinks they're dead, he won't care."

"Alright," said Anakin, lifting his hood back onto his head. "We all forget what transpired here. Agreed?" Everyone, including the younglings, shook their heads. Anakin walked out of the room, and back into his slaughter. Once he was gone, Rei ran over to Shinji.

"Shinji," she asked, running into his arms, "What's going on? Why are the clones attacking?"

"I don't know," answered Shinji. "Anakin said that Mace Windu tried to kill Palpatine. But I need to get all of you out of here." He was about to ask how they had gotten in the Chamber, when suddenly a jedi rushed into the room. Unfortunately, all he saw was Shinji's armor and the younglings, who still had frightened looks on their faces.

"You leave those kids alone!" shouted the jedi. He ran towards Shinji with his lightsaber raised. Then on pure reflex, Shinji whipped out his pistol and fired. The jedi dropped to the ground. Everyone in the room just stared at the jedi's body, lying unmoving on the cold Chamber floor. One of the younglings began crying.

"You killed him!" the child cried. The rest started crying too.

"Shinji," said Rei in her monotone voice. Shinji turned to face her.

SLAP! "How could you?" Shinji reeled from the blow. It wasn't so much the slap, but the fact that Rei had been the one to do it.

"Ouch!" said Shinji, rubbing his cheek As if his head didn't hurt enough from the helmet. "What was that for?"

"That!" said Rei, pointing at the fallen jedi.

"Rei," said Shinji, a look of hurt in his eyes.

"What?"

"Look," said Shinji. He walked over to where the jedi lay, and turned him over. He pulled a very small dart out of his chest. "This is a tranquilizer," said Shinji, showing them the dart. "He's not dead. He's just asleep." He rubbed his cheek, which now had a red hand-shaped mark on it. He picked the jedi up and slung him over his shoulder.

"Oh Shinji," said Rei, instantly regretting striking him, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

"That's okay Rei," said Shinji. "I might've done the same thing if I had been you. It's my fault, I should have explained. But he came too fast, and I didn't have any other choice." The younglings had calmed down by now. "So how did you all get in here without being noticed?"

"This way," said Rei, opening up the hidden passage. Shinji put on his helmet, and walked into the passageway. Rei led them through the various passages, until they came to one that would pass through the security room.

"Wait," said Shinji as he walked over to the computer. He began searching through the records. "Aha!" he said as he found the security holocron for the Council Chamber. He removed the holocron and attached it to his belt. This way, no one would know what had happened.

Rei continued to lead them through the hallways They were doing well. No one had seen them yet. However, they did have a couple of close calls. At one point, they had just closed the passage door, when they heard several troopers run by. This was getting dangerous. Eventually, they came to a point where the secret passageways ended. They were close to the outside now.

"What do we do now?" asked Rei. "There's no way out beyond here, there's just a balcony." Shinji thought for a second. Then he got an idea. He used the control on his wrist to activate the auto-pilot on his LAAT. In minutes it had arrived, and was waiting outside near the balcony.

"Alright," said Shinji, "I have an LAAT waiting for us outside. All we have to do now is sneak out quietly." They went quickly and quietly, and reached the balcony. Shinji helped everyone inside, and then deposited the unconscious jedi inside. Once they were inside, Rei saw the EVA.

'What is that?' thought Rei. 'It looks... familiar.' The younglings had seen it too. And Shinji noticed this.

"Now kids," said Shinji, "Please don't touch that." He pointed to the EVA that was waiting inside. "You could get hurt. Promise me you won't touch it?"

"Okay Mister Shinji!" said the kids. Shinji smiled underneath his helmet.

"And Rei?" he said, "Keep an eye on that jedi. Let me know right away if he wakes up. I have no idea how long the tranquilizer will last."

"Alright," said Rei. Shinji started to close the door.

"Hey!" said a clone voice suddenly. Shinji had almost completely closed the LAAT. Shinji spun around to see Alex coming out of the temple. "Where are you going Shinji?"

"Uh, uh," said Shinji, trying to come up with something. Suddenly, they heard a commotion coming from somewhere south of their position. Shinji turned to see a red speeder zooming away, with Senator Bail Organa at the wheel. Shinji knew that Senator Organa was sympathetic with the jedi, and would most certainly help him. He turned back to Alex.

"I saw some jedi try to get away on a speeder," Shinji lied. " They kidnaped Senator Ayanami as well. I'm off to go catch them."

"Oh!" said Alex, "Well then I'll come with you! You'll need backup."

"No!" exclaimed Shinji. Alex was confused. "You, uh, you should stay here. The clones are going to need your help here. Besides, I should only be a few minutes."

"Alright," said Alex.

"Oh," said Shinji, "And, don't tell anyone that we had this conversation. That's an order." At the word 'order', Alex's obedience gene instantly took over.

"Yes sir," said Alex. He went back into the temple. Shinji quickly shut the door of the LAAT and jumped into the cockpit. He hated lying, especially to Alex. But it had to be done. He took off and sped after Organa. He caught up to him in minutes.

Organa saw the LAAT on his tail, and thought immediately that the clones had come after him. 'Oh no,' thought Organa as he drove. He sped up, trying to get away. Shinji noticed his change of speed and sped up as well. Soon, he was right next to the Senator's speeder. Shinji was about to open his cockpit to talk to him, when suddenly the Senator pulled a blaster and started firing. Shinji opened his cockpit anyway.

"Hey!" he yelled to Organa. "Stop!" He ducked as a blast flew over him.

"Not on your life!" said Organa.

"Please!" said Shinji, "Let me explain!" Organa tried going faster. "I have a whole cargo of jedi apprentices with me, along with Senator Ayanami!"

"What!?"

"I need your help!" yelled Shinji over the wind, "I need to get them somewhere safe!" Organa was very confused.

"Aren't you a clone trooper?" he asked.

"No," said Shinji, removing his helmet. "I need your help. I have five younglings, a possibly wanted Senator, and an unconscious Jedi Knight in the back. Can you help?" Organa thought for a moment.

"Alright," he said, "Follow me." Shinji followed his speeder, glad that he was going to help.

888

They were all onboard the Tantive IV. Even the EVA. Getting it onboard hadn't been easy. In fact, Shinji still wasn't quite sure how they'd done it. But there it was, right in front of him. Shinji was sitting down with Rei, entertaining the younglings. The jedi still hadn't woken up.

The children asked Shinji all sorts of questions about his adventures. They had heard a lot about him at the Temple from Jedi Masters that had worked with him. "Mister Shinji," asked one of the kids, "Did you really fight a monster?"

"Yes," said Shinji. "It was on Felucia."

"What kind of monster?" asked a girl.

"The scary kind," answered Shinji. Rei admired the way Shinji handled the kids. He answered all of their thousands of questions in just the right way. They loved hearing his stories too. Right now, he was telling them about his fight on Felucia.

"How did you beat it?" Shinji told them all about the fight. He got up to the point where the Acklay had pinned him down.

"And then," said Shinji, "It pulled its claw up... And got me! Right there!" He pointed to his chest.

"But you were in the EVA thingy right?" asked one of the younger padawans, "How'd it get you?"

"It cut through the EVA," explained Shinji. "My armor too." One of the older boys looked at him skeptically.

"Yeah right," said the boy, "How come you're still okay then? I heard that Acklay are really strong. If one had hit you, you'd probably be dead. I think you're making stuff up!"

"No I'm not," said Shinji with mock offense.

"Then prove it!" said the boy.

"I have a scar right here," said Shinji, tracing the spot on his chest with his finger.

"Can we see it then?" asked the boy

"Well," said Shinji, "Alright. Just to show you I'm not lying." He took off his upper armor. He hadn't had a chance to change into anything else since getting on the Tantive. He removed the armor and showed them the scar. "See? Right there." While thin, the scar was still very noticeable. It was a little bit less then an inch wide, about the width of his index finger.

"Whoa," said the boy. Rei was impressed too. Not by the scar exactly, but more by Shinji's muscles. Because of all of the strenuous physical activity Shinji had gotten into very good shape. His body was still lithe and athletic but it now had more muscle to it, adding strength to agility. Rei couldn't help but stare. Luckily, she caught herself before Shinji did this time.

"Did it hurt?"

"Yes," said Shinji. "Very yes. Never get into a fight with an Acklay." He put his armor back on. Rei found herself a bit disappointed.

'Wait,' she thought. 'What am I thinking?' Shinji began telling them of more of his adventures. The children listened with interest, especially to his adventure on Kashyyyk. They loved his descriptions of the wookies. He told the stories, leaving almost nothing out. He kept the parts that had to do with his lightsaber a secret, though, as well as the more gory details. Suddenly, Yoda walked in.

"Yoda?" said Shinji.

"Master Yoda!" exclaimed the children. They ran over to greet him. Shinji and Rei did too.

"Makes my heart glad it does," said Yoda, "To see that safe you children are." He turned to look at Shinji. "Shinji," he said, "What happened?" Shinji explained the best that he could. He told Yoda almost everything. He told about the clones attacking and his use of the tranquilizer guns. But, he didn't tell him that they had been led by Anakin. Shinji didn't say it because he still couldn't believe it. Yoda sensed that Shinji was holding back information, but couldn't bring himself to question the boy further. It would cause too much pain to reveal whatever secret he was guarding, and Yoda knew it.

"Master Yoda," asked one of the children, tugging at his cloak, "What's gonna happen now?" Yoda looked at the child.

"Worry not young one," said Yoda. "Take care of everything, I will." The youngling beamed at Yoda. Yoda was going to make everything better, so the child had no more worries. The children all went back to Shinji, asking to hear more about his adventures. Yoda stayed by to listen for a little while. He liked hearing a good story too.

888

"The Supreme Chancellor requests your presence at a special session of Congress," said the blue-skinned alien on the screen.

"I will be there," said Organa.

"He'll be expecting you." The screen turned off.

"Could be a trap," said Organa.

"I don't think so," said Obi-wan. They were all in the ships cockpit. "The Chancellor won't be able to control the thousands of star systems without keeping the Senate intact."

"If a special session of Congress there is," said Yoda thoughtfully, "Easier for us to enter the Jedi Temple it will be."

"Alright," said Organa, "Rei and I will go to the session, while you two sneak into the Temple. Shinji, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stay here with the younglings," said Shinji. "I also need to keep an eye on that jedi to see when he wakes up. That way I will be able to see how long the tranquilizer lasts."

"Alright," said Obi-Wan. He and Yoda departed for the Temple, while Senator Organa and Rei went to the Senate building. They arrived during Palpatine's speech.

"And the Jedi Rebellion has been foiled," said Palpatine as they walked in. They sat down next to Padme.

"What's happened?" asked Organa.

"The Chancellor's been elaborating on a plot by the jedi to overthrow the Senate," answered Padme.

"The remaining jedi will be hunted downm" said Palpatine, "And defeated!" Everyone in the room began to applaud.

"They don't even know what they are clapping for," said Rei with mild disgust.

"Hmm?" said Padme.

"I was at the Jedi Temple," answered Rei. "If these Senators had seen what went on in that Temple, they would not be applauding as they do now."

"Why?" asked Padme.

"Is killing children a cause for cheering?" asked Rei. Padme was shocked. The applause died down, and Palpatine began to speak again.

"The attempt on my life," he said, "Has left me scarred, and deformed. But I assure you. My resolve has never been stronger!" More applause.

"In order to ensure the security, and continuing stability," continued Palpatine, "The Republic will be reorganized into the first, Galactic Empire!" The applause started up again, "For a safe, and secure, society!" The applause became almost deafening.

"So this is how Democracy dies," said Padme. "With thunderous applause." She looked at Rei. "You said you were in the Temple?"

"Yes," said Rei.

"What happened?" asked Padme. Rei began explaining. She started from the time she woke up right up until the fight between Shinji and Anakin. But, she could not bring herself to tell Padme that her husband had turned to the Dark Side.

"That's awful!" said Padme, "How did you escape?"

"Shinji came," said Rei. "He got us out of the Temple in time."

"Where is he now?"

"He is staying with the children," said Rei.

"Oh," said Padme. "But he was at the Temple?"

"Yes."

"Did he see Anakin there?"

"..."

"Rei?"

"He... Didn't say," said Rei. They were silent for a while. Padme headed back to her apartment, and Rei started back for the Tantive IV

888

The Jedi Knight woke up. He looked around, very confused. What had happened? One minute he had been charging at that trooper, the next he was here. He was in a medical bay of some sort. He searched for his lightsaber, but couldn't find it. Suddenly, he heard voices. He followed them until he came to a door. He opened it up... And saw a clone trooper!

"Wha-?" said the trooper. The Jedi Force-Pushed him against the wall and held him there. "What the-What are you doing?"

"Where am I?" demanded the Jedi. "Where's my lightsaber? What did you do to those children?" Shinji just looked at him for a second.

"Well good morning to you too," said Shinji. "Your saber's right here on my belt. Right now you're on board the Tantive IV. I brought you here after I tranquilized you."

"What?" said the Jedi, confused. He walked over to Shinji and, sure enough, found his lightsaber on his belt. "Now," said the Jedi, still not trusting Shinji. After all, the man **had** seen thousands of clone troopers attacking the Temple. He activated the lightsaber, and held the green blade up to Shinji's neck. "What did you do to those children?"

"I didn't do anything," said Shinji.

"Then where are they?"

"I don't know," answered Shinji. " I'm not supposed to know. We're playing hide-and-seek."

"What?"asked the Jedi, confused as anything. He let Shinji drop to the floor and turned his lightsaber off. Shinji got up, and actually _smiled_ at the Jedi!

"Well I'm glad to see that you're okay," said Shinji. This only added to the Jedi's confusion. "I didn't know how long the tranquilizer would last. You've been out for over... Twelve hours I think."

"Twelve hours!?"

"Yes," said Shinji. "And I'm glad you got up too. I need help finding these five. They are really good at this game!" The Jedi was taken aback at the young man's attitude. Even though he'd attacked him, he was actually glad?

"But," said the Jedi, "I need to get back to the Temple! They need me there."

"No they don't," said Shinji. "The clones already left the Temple. There isn't anything that you could do back there. But, I should call Masters Yoda and Kenobi. If you've woken up, then the others could be up any minute."

888

Rei got back onboard the Tantive, and found Shinji and the Jedi entertaining the younglings. Shinji saw Rei walk in.

"So what was the Session about?" asked Shinji.

"The Emperor told the Senate that the Jedi had tried to rebel, and that-"

"Wait, wait, hold on," interrupted Shinji, "Emperor?"

"Yes," said Rei. "Palpatine has turned the Republic into an Empire, and he is now the Emperor." Shinji's mind stopped. It just stopped. This was too much information all at once. And such strange information as well. Shinji couldn't think clearly. This was all too strange.

"Emperor?" he said again. "My head hurts."

"Perhaps you should try to get some sleep," said Rei.

"You're right," said Shinji. "I've been up for almost 24 hours straight now. But what about you? You couldn't have gotten much sleep either. What with the attack and all."

"You both need to get some sleep," said the Jedi. "I'll watch the younglings. Now you both go and get some rest. You especially," he said pointing to Shinji. "You look awful."

"Thanks," said Shinji wryly. But he knew that the Jedi was right. He made his way to one of the extra sleeping quarters on the Tantive. 'What a day,' he thought as he removed his armor. He didn't take off his leg armor, just his upper armor. He tossed it on the ground, as well as his weapons. Then, he fell on top of the bed. He was exhausted. He'd been up for hours and hours on end, fighting half of the time as well. He lied there, and tried to get some sleep. But he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get comfortable. He lied there for about half an hour.

Suddenly, he felt an arm on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of crimson orbs staring back at him.

"Rei?" asked Shinji, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get some sleep," she answered. She cuddled up close to Shinji. Needless to say, Shinji's confusion only grew.

"Huh?"

"I could not get to sleep," said Rei. "This Empire... It has disturbed me."

"Me too," said Shinji. "This whole day's been horrible." They were silent for a while.

"...Shinji?"

"Yes Rei?"

"I am sorry that I slapped you earlier," said Rei. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I-"

"Rei," said Shinji, "I should be the one apologizing. It was my fault. I should have explained about the gun right away." As always, Shinji could only find fault with himself.

"..." Rei said nothing. She traced his scar with her finger. "Shinji..."

"Yes Rei?"

"What will you do," asked Rei, "Now that the Republic is an Empire? Are you going to stay in the army?"

"... I... I don't know," said Shinji. "I really don't know."

888

Rei and Shinji had managed to get about two hours of sleep before the Tantive IV landed on Polis Massa. One of the crew members had come in to tell him that he could move into one of the complex's rooms. Shinji had carried Rei, who was still asleep, into one of the extra rooms on Polis Massa. Shinji managed to get a few more hours of sleep, when he was suddenly jerked awake by a sharp pain in his head.

"Ah!" he exclaimed as he shot up in bed. He grabbed his head.

"Shinji?" said Rei, who had been rudely awaken by Shinji's sudden movement. "What is wrong?"

"I don't know," said Shinji grabbing the side of his head. "I've got some kind of headache. It's going away now though." He looked out the window of the room and saw a silver Nabooan ship coming in to land. He got a weird feeling from it. "I think we should head down to the landing area," he said. He and Rei made their way down to the landing bay, just in time to see Obi-Wan come out of the ship, carrying an unconscious Padme in his arms.

"What happened?" asked Rei.

"A lot of things," said Obi-Wan, "But we need to get her to the medical bay quickly. They rushed her to the medical bay, where the droid doctor informed them that she was carrying twins. They began operating immediately. Rei looked at her friend with worry. She had a horrible feeling that her friend was going to die.

'No,' she thought, 'What am I thinking? She will be fine.' Rei kept telling herself that as she stood by Padme's side as she was giving birth.

"Luke," said Padme as Obi-Wan showed her the first child. She let out a pained cry, and the operator droid handed the second child to Obi-Wan.

"It's a girl," he said.

"Leia," gasped Padme. She was gasping for air by now, right on Death's Door. "Obi-Wan?" she said. "There's good in him. I know. I know there's still good in him. Rei?"

"Yes Padme?" said Rei, beginning to tear up as she grasped her friends hand one last time.

"Take care," said Padme, "Take care of Shinji. He, he loves..." Padme died before she could finish her sentence. Rei's head dropped on Padme's chest and she began to sob uncontrollably. Shinji just looked on. He couldn't react. It was all too much for him. Padme dead, Anakin a Sith, the Republic an Empire, Rei crying.

Shinji took the mourning Rei to bed. She cried into his chest for a long time, until she finally cried herself to sleep. Shinji looked pityingly at her. She had never cried this much in all the time he'd known her, and this was only the second time he'd even seen the blue-haired girl cry at all. He wanted to cry over the death of Padme too, but couldn't. Too many things had gone wrong today. He might cry about it when his head cleared. But there was only one thing clear in his mind now. He knew what he had to do.

No matter how hard making the choice would be.

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Before anyone, especially you hardcore Star Wars fans, try to jump on my back about this, Shaak Ti never **officially** died. And yes, that was Anakin getting OOC for a moment. But I figure that he wasn't completely corrupted at that point (note the lack of Sith Eyes in the movie at that point) and could have snapped back to himself for a moment or two.

Next chapter may take a while, but I'll try to get it out ASAP.

* * *


	12. naboo: imperial diplomacy

Disclaimer: Even though you should know by now, I'll say it anyway: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Alright then! Tis time to find out Shinji's decision. And an interesting one it was.

P.S: all of the times, like dates of battles and stuff from here until... when I tell you they're over, are estimated on my part, as the time line that I found for Star Wars doesn't mention some of this stuff. If I have a major screw up, let me know and I'll fix it.

Sorry about the wait! And sorry if it seems rushy!

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Shinji sat in his room, thinking about the events of the last year or so. After Padme died, Shinji had made the tough decision to stay in the army. No one had understood at first. Of course, Shinji had had a very good reason.

"The Empire is going to be hunting for any remaining Jedi right?" Shinji had said. "If I'm in the army, they'll send me after them. I will be able to help them from there. If I get to the jedi before anyone else, I can tranquilize them, and then later help them go into hiding." Everyone had agreed with his plan. It was the best way.

"But what about the EVA?" Obi-Wan had asked. "The Emperor will no doubt want it examined and studied so that he can produce mor of them." Shinji had found an answer for that as well. He had taken the EVA down to the lowest level of the Polis Massa complex, where there was a large vault. He put the EVA inside, and sealed the door. The door could only be opened three different ways: written password, retina scan, or fingerprint scan. Shinji had made it so that someone would have to have all three to open the door. The door was shielded in the same manner as on Mygeeto, so no one could force the door open. Shinji had also disabled the security cameras in the room at the time of his password input to be extra safe. Shinji was determined that no one would ever be able to use it again, unless it was him. He didn't want something that dangerous in the hands of an unpredictable Empire.

And, unbeknownst to Shinji, Obi-Wan and Yoda had decided not to tell him about his Force power. "Too dangerous it is," Yoda had said. "If finds out the Emperor does, then much trouble it will lead to."

"But why hasn't the Emperor sensed it yet?" Obi-Wan had asked.

"To Shinji, the Force takes a path that a Sith could not understand. A mother's love for her child it is and feel it, Sidious does not. Safer the boy will be, if told he is not."

The remaining Jedi had been picked up from the Jedi Temple, and had gone into hiding along with the five younglings. Shinji had gone into the Temple records and erased or altered many of the security holocrons in the building. Of course, the 501st had wondered where Shinji had disappeared to. He just told them that he had chased the jedi off the planet, and that the ensuing battle had caused his LAAT to be destroyed along with the EVA that had been inside it. They bought it.

Unfortunately, Rei had become more reclusive because of Padme's death. She rarely spoke anymore, and when she did, it was in very short sentences. Shinji hated to see Rei depressed and he wanted to help her, but he knew from personal experience that it was almost impossible to help someone emotionally after the death of someone who had been very close. He had done what he could for her though, for the little help that it did. It had helped that the War was over and he was able to spend more time on Coruscant. Of course, he hadn't spent all of his time on Coruscant with Rei. Recently he had been communicating more with his father, who, even after his confession about his concern for his son, still never seemed to be there. But he was around just enough to help Shinji with something.

After his fight in the Temple, Shinji saw that not being able to use grenades was a large disadvantage. So, he had gone to Gendo for help. He and his father had worked diligently, and soon they had created special grenades. Shinji had dubbed them Concussion Grenades, and the name couldn't have been more accurate. When detonated, they sent out a combination of gases that would cause the target to become unconscious. Shinji had only made them as a precaution. He had hoped that he would never have to use them. But it seemed like they would be getting their first field-test tonight, on the planet Naboo.

Recently, Queen Apailana had been discovered to be harboring fugitive Jedi. The 501st had been sent to kill not only the Jedi, but the Queen as well. This wasn't the first thing that she'd done either. She had been showing subtle signs of rebellion, such as labeling documents 'Republic' instead of 'Empire'. Her senators and diplomats were also very uncooperative. Shinji hadn't wanted a confrontation with Naboo, especially because of his friendship with Padme. However, he was told that this mission would prevent future conflicts. He was hoping that it would be true.

His mission of course, was to tranquilize the Queen, as many Jedi as possible, and anyone else who got in the way. He looked at his equipment. The Empire had made a lot of changes in the army, such as the armor. Shinji didn't like the Storm Trooper armor very much. He wasn't a big fan of the new assault rifles either. They just looked like big pistols. On the plus-side, they held more ammo than the clone rifles, but they were small. Shinji had been able to use his old rifle as a melee weapon when certain situations had come up. He couldn't do that with the new gun.

He looked around his room on the Star Destroyer. He had kept his old equipment: guns, armor, etc. He made something of a display out of them. He didn't know why. He was currently in his Storm Trooper armor, looking at the space where he kept his guns. His Elite Rifle and Precision Pistol were there, along with their respective non-lethal counterparts. His lightsaber was attached to his belt. He grabbed his Tranquilizer Rifle, and was about to grab his pistol, When his door opened.

"Are you ready yet Shinji?" asked Red. "We're ready to land." Shinji turned to face him, grabbing a pistol.

"Yeah," said Shinji, "I'm ready." He put on his helmet, and he and Red made their way to the Hanger.

888

The Queen must have somehow known that they were coming. There was a literal **army** of royal guards guarding the palace. The 501st landed, and started shooting. The guards had been very prepared for the attack however, and proved to be quite troublesome. At the moment, the 501st's job was to capture the eastern plaza. Shinji made his way there, firing off tranquilizers as he went. They worked like a charm. He fought his way to the plaza and began clearing the area for his troops. As his troopers entered the area, he got a call over his communicator.

"General," said a voice over the communicator. Shinji wasn't used to the English accent. "We need you to take the Central Plaza. But, you have to go around through the West Plaza."

"Why?"

"There is a large auto-turret grid in the Central Plaza. If you go through the West Plaza, you'll eventually find the turret grid's main computer. Take out the computer, you take out the grid."

"Alright," said Shinji. He started moving towards the Plaza. As he passed the Central Plaza, he saw the auto-turret grid. It consisted of at least four very large turrets. He got out of the way just in time for the guns to start firing. He kept heading West, meeting steadily growing Royal Guard opposition. He fought his way into the West Plaza, only to have to instantly hide behind a pillar. There was a large amount of guards in the area and Shinji thought he could also hear the sound of tanks activating in the distance. He came up with a plan quickly.

He ran out from behind the pillar, throwing a grenade and shooting. The grenade "exploded" in the middle of a large group of guards. The gas took care of them, and by the time it cleared it gave the impression that they were dead. Shinji kept firing, taking down any guard he could. A large group of Storm Troopers came, and helped him clear out the Plaza. Shinji picked a small group of three and they started moving.

Shinji made sure to keep to the shadows. There were tanks rolling by at this point, giving need to secrecy. They were almost to the control mainframe, when suddenly a group of Royal guards spotted them. They began firing. One of Shinji's troopers went down, and he and the remaining two got behind some pillars. Shinji started firing from behind his pillar, as did the other two. The trooper on his left went down, taking three guards with him. There were eight guards left. Shinji kept firing.

Suddenly, one of the guards threw a thermal detonator. Shinji rolled out from behind the pillar just in time, but his comrade did not. Shinji looked angrily at the guards, and pulled back the trigger hard. In no time, the guards were defeated. Shinji looked at his fallen troopers for a moment, and then continued on towards his objective. His map showed that the computer was just 20 yards to the east. He made his way there, and saw a flight of stairs leading to a balcony. He also saw several guards at the top.

He threw a grenade up at them. It went off and knocked them out. Shinji ran up the stairs and found the computer. He grabbed one of the unconscious guard's guns and shot the computer. He looked down at the auto-turrets and saw that they had ceased firing. He was about to smile, when about nine Jedi came running out of the temple. He saw several Storm Troopers rush to meet them, only to be cut down. Shinji checked his gun, and then leapt off of the balcony, firing as he went and taking down one Jedi. He started firing at the rest. The Jedi turned their attention towards him. They ran at him, attempting to block his shots. Of course they were blocking their heads and chests, while Shinji was busy shooting their arms and legs. The last one was just about to reach him when a trooper shot him in the back.

"General!" came the voice on the communicator. "The Queen is attempting to escape! She is armed, and guarded by two or mor Jedi! You must not let her escape!"

"I'm on it!" Shinji began searching for the Queen. He knew it was a race against time now, especially if he wanted to save the Queen. He saw her heading towards the East Plaza. She had three Jedi bodyguards with her. He shot one in the back and began pursuit. The other Jedi and the Queen turned around. She began firing at him, while the Jedi started running towards him. Shinji dodged the Queen's shots and fired at the Jedi, taking one of them down. He fired at the other one and started running towards the queen. He fired at her. _Click-click_.

'Damn!' thought Shinji as he dodged another shot. A Royal guard caught up to the Queen and started firing at Shinji as well. Shinji pulled out his pistol and fired at him. He went down and the Queen fired at him. He dodged once again and fired, getting her right in the chest. 'Alright!' thought Shinji. 'The Queen and the Jedi are safe and the Empire is none the wiser!' He walked over to the Queen, knowing that he would have to hide her quickly.

888

Rei sat in her apartment. There wasn't much to do in the Senate anymore, now that the Clone Wars were over. She was just starting to wonder when Shinji would get back, when there was a knock at her door. Without waiting for an answer, the door opened and Shinji walked in. Rei was immediately happy to see him, but then she saw his expression. Something was wrong.

"Shinji?" she asked. "What is it?"

"...I'm..."

"What?"

"I'm a murderer," said Shinji.

"What?" asked Rei, confused. "Shinji, what are you talking about?"

"The Queen," said Shinji, "I killed Queen Apailana."

"What are you talking about?"

"I thought I was using my tranquilizer pistol when I shot her," said Shinji."But I went to go hide her body and I realized she wasn't breathing." He fell to his knees and started weeping. Rei ran over to him. She knelt down by his side and put her arms around his shoulders. he looked at her. "How can you stand to even be near me?" he asked. "I'm a monster."

"Don't say things like that," said Rei. "You are not a monster for accidentally killing someone. You were trying to save Apailana, it's not your fault you grabbed the wrong gun." She tried to comfort Shinji. 'Poor Shinji,' she thought, 'He's not cut out to kill people. He's not that kind of person.' She only hoped that this would be the last time that Shinji would ever have to fight people.

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First off, sorry. I know this chapter was rushy, but I think I wanted to do this one even less than I had wanted to do Rhen Var Citadel. That's because I make Shinji a murderer, and I didn't really want to. But it had to happen. The next one will be better. I promise!

Next time! Mustafar: Storm Troopers vs. Battle Droids


	13. mustafar: stormtroopers vs droids

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: For time, I'm guessing about six months after the last chapter. Like I said, I have to do a lot of guess-work.

P.S: Really sorry about the wait. I've been busy/distracted.

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Ever since... Naboo, Shinji had payed much more attention to his guns. He kept his real guns out in plain sight, while his tranquilizers were kept in a special place. He had modified one section of the wall in his room on the 501sts Star Destroyer, so that it now had a secret compartment. He never wanted to make a mistake like **that** again.

It had taken a while for him to get over Queen Apailana's death. Almost two months actually. Rei helped him as she could, finally helping him understand that it was an accident. He still blamed himself for being careless though, and he probably would for a long time. That's why he had made the special modification to his room. So that he wouldn't ever murder anyone again. Of course, many of the 501st's missions lately were just patrols and peace keeping. But today was different.

A Seperatist named Gizor Delso had been tracked to Mustafar. He hadn't been there when Anakin had killed the Seperatist leaders. But he was there now, and he had an army of battle-droids with him. He had found a secret droid factory on the planet and not only created an army of them, but he had also made several improvements in their designs. But Shinji was about to find out first hand just how good the improvements were...

The alarm started blaring. Shinji grabbed his helmet and weapons and ran down towards the hangar. "What's the situation?" Shinji asked through his communicator.

"The droids have boarded our ship!" said a Red through the communicator.

"No way!" said Shinji. He increased his speed and was in the hangar in no time. The door opened and, sure enough, there was a CIS gun-ship sitting right there. And there were a whole lot of droids piling out of it. Storm Troopers were everywhere, trying to repel the intruders. Shinji began firing, taking down a droid instantly. The droids nearby began firing. Shinji ran towards them and fired back at them. He threw a grenade at them and rolled behind some crates. The grenade exploded, sending bits of droid everywhere. However to Shinji's dismay, droids kept piling out of the gun-ship. Thinking quickly, he formulated a plan.

"Hey!" Shinji called to a nearby group of Troopers. "Go grab some rocket launchers and time bombs! Quick!" The Troopers nodded and ran off to get the equipment. Shinji fired at the droids and waited. The Troopers were back in no time. "Alright," said Shinji, taking a time bomb. "I want you guys to concentrate your fire on the gun-ship. Just like always, two groups one fires reloads, you know the drill."

"Yes Sir!" The Storm Troopers got into their positions and began firing.

"Beat them back!" yelled Shinji to his men. The 501st began a vicious assault on the droids. In moments, the droids realized that they were fighting a losing battle. Many of them ran back to the gun-ship, which had taken severe damage by now. Just as they were taking off, Shinji launched his time bomb. It attached itself to the ship, and five seconds later the ship exploded. One of the remaining droids leapt up to attack Shinji. Shinji just blasted it without looking at it and began walking towards his ship.

Unfortunately, the droids had damaged his ship during the fighting. The shield had saved it from being destroyed, but it wouldn't be combat ready anytime soon. Shinji called over a technician. "Start repairs on that please," he said, pointing to the Jedi Starfighter.

"Right away Sir," said the technician. Shinji reluctantly went over to a TIE-Bomber. He wasn't very experienced with the new vehicles, as he pretty much just stuck to his Starfighter, but he knew enough to get by. He called a pilot over.

"You," he said pointing to the pilot, "Co-pilot. Let's go."

"Yes Sir," said the pilot as he got into the TIE-Bomber. Shinji got in the pilot seat and the Bomber took off. Shinji had chosen the bomber for a few reasons. One: they had very good armor, two: they had powerful guns, which made up for the slow firing rates, and three: it was always nice to have a co-pilot to back you up. As they left the hangar, Shinji looked out towards the droid capital ship. It looked a bit larger than the ones Shinji had grown used to seeing. And the droid ships pouring out of it was a bit larger than usual too.

"Hit 'em hard and hit 'em fast," said Shinji over the communicator. TIE-Fighters scrambled into position. Shinji flew ahead and began blasting. He caught a vulture droid on it's left wing, and it began spiraling out of control. It crashed into three other droid ships next to it and they all exploded. Shinji's co-pilot fired as well, taking down a tri-fighter and two vulture droids. Shinji saw that the droid capitol ship was being backed up by a Banking Clan Com Ship. "I'm going for the Com ship," said Shinji over the communicator. "Cover me."

"Yes Sir," said a Trooper. Two TIE-Interceptors and a Bomber flew in behind him. Shinji didn't give them any directions. They knew what he was planning. Shinji and the other Bomber began bombarding the Com Ship, while the interceptors flew around blasting any enemy that came close. After a minute or two of the bombing, the Com Ship exploded. Even though the battle had only lasted for a few minutes, ten at the most, Shinji was already tired of fighting the droids. He set his eyes on the capitol ship and started towards it. The other three fighters followed him.

Shinji had been planning on flying into the hangar. But he could see that Gizor Delso had made some modifications to the ship as well as the droids. The ship's shields covered the hangar entrance as well. Shinji began firing at the shield. Several TIE-Fighters in the area followed his example. They concentrated their fire at the ship, and its shields were down in no time. Suddenly, Shinji got a call over his helmet communicator.

"Shinji," said a deep, menacing voice.

"Anakin?" said Shinji, "Er, I mean Vader?" Lord Vader had accompanied the 501st on this mission. He had wanted to personally make sure that every last remnant of the CIS was eradicated.

"I want you to hijack one of their ships," said Vader.

"Which one?" asked Shinji as he flew into the hangar.

"One of their Strike Bombers."

"Got something special planned?" asked Shinji as he jumped out of the TIE-Bomber and began firing at the droids. His co-pilot took off in the Bomber.

"Just a little something," said Vader. Shinji smiled. Thankfully, they had remained friends after their fight on Coruscant. Shinji was shaken from his thoughts when a blast found his arm.

"Ouch!" said Shinji. It had been a while since he had actually been hit by anything. Shinji noticed that these droids seemed to be able to handle surprises better. 'Well,' he thought, 'It **has** been a while since they gave me any real challenge.' He fired at a super battle droid and threw a thermal detonator into a group of pilots. He looked around and found a Strike Bomber. He fought his way over to it and hoped on to it. A super battle droid had just gotten in.

Shinji opened the cockpit and shot the droid. He jumped in, threw the body out, and took off. Several droids fired at the Strike Bomber. Suddenly, they heard a beeping sound. They looked down at the body of the droid Shinji had thrown out of the cockpit. They say a large red glow through a hole in it's chest, right before it exploded. Shinji smirked as he left the hangar. Droids never expected that trick. It had been a while since he had used it, but he still had it down pretty well. The trick was to move so fast that the droids couldn't see you. Shinji had blasted open the droid's chest, stuffed it with grenades and a time bomb, and tossed it out.

Shinji flew back to the Star Destroyer at full speed. He landed safely in the hangar. He hopped out of the Strike Bomber and was greeted by Darth Vader. "Excellent work my friend," said Vader, patting him on the back.

"Thanks," said Shinji. "But, if you don't mind me asking, what are you going to use the Bomber for?"

"You'll see," said Vader.

888

"Stupid lava!" said Shinji angrily. "It's so damn hot on this planet!" Shinji was angry. He had thought that he didn't like fighting in the cold. Well, at that moment he would have rather been stuck on the coldest part of Rhen Var in his old Clone armor than be here. All of the lava and fire made snow and sub-zero temperatures seem like heaven. They had just landed. Vader would be arriving on the planet's surface shortly. They were on a platform directly outside of a building on the southern side of a droid factory/lava mining complex.

Suddenly, droids started pouring out of the building. There were two doors, one on the east side of the wall of the building and one on the west. They were coming out of the east door. Shinji began firing at them. Reinforcements, in the form of small troop transports, were landing periodically. Shinji needed to hold the droids off just long enough to-

Suddenly there was an explosion! One of the droids had launched a rocket at a small group of Troopers. All four were killed. Shinji fired at the droid, destroying it instantly. 'I have to find a way to stop them!' thought Shinji as he fired. 'I need to cut those doors off to them.' Suddenly, he realized something. He ran towards the west door. 'If I can get through here,' he thought, 'I might be able to get them from behind.' Unfortunately, it was locked. He looked back towards the other door. His men had engaged the enemy at the door. It was a difficult position to be in for both sides. There was hardly enough room to fight.

Shinji fired at a droid who had emerged from the door. He ran back towards it. As soon as he got there, he threw in a thermal detonator. "Get back!" he yelled to his men. They all ran several feet back from the door, which slammed down (the doors all worked like that, they only opened when someone got close to it). There was a boom. Shinji and his Troopers ran back towards the door, and they went inside.

There was a lot of droid parts scattered about the floor. Shinji looked down the hallway to see droids already starting to regroup. He threw another grenade, destroying the three that were there. He ran towards the spot, and fired at another droid who was heading down the adjoining hallway (which ran north to south). He saw the door that had been locked. He destroyed the panel next to it, and the door opened. Several Storm Troopers began rushing inside.

"Let's go," said Shinji. They ran north through the hallway. They came to what appeared to be some kind of conference room. There were several droids inside. Shinji and his Troopers began firing. They cleared the room in no time. Shinji checked his map. He still had a long way to go. He ordered a small group of Troopers to stay and guard the area, and convert it into a small base of operations. He took a few more with him and they left.

Outside, there were two metal bridges. On the other side of the bridges was a walkway, which was crawling with droids. Shinji and his squad made their way across the bridge. The droids fired. A Trooper on Shinji's left was gunned down. Shinji blasted the droid immediately. He threw a grenade at the crowded area. Some of the smarter (or dumber) droids rolled out of the way, falling into the lava in the process, and the rest just stood there as the thermal detonator exploded. Suddenly, a sniper shot hit a Trooper that had gotten in front of Shinji.

Shinji turned around and saw three snipers on a ledge to the east of the bridge they were on. He pulled out his pistol and fired. He didn't waste time aiming. He just shot at them. He hit the first droid in the head, the second in the chest, and the third in the knee. The third droid fell into the lava below. Shinji and his decreased squad (two Troopers and himself) made it to thw walkway.

Troopers began coming out of the building across the bridge. Shinji signaled to a few of them, and they made their way eastward along the walkway towards the other building (the whole place was actually one building, it was just built very inconveniently). They made their way inside, only to come under near-instant fire. There were several super battle droids and a magna guard. One of the Troopers had a rocket launcher with him. He launched it, taking out the droids.

"Good job," said Shinji.

"Thank you," said Red.

"Finally took my advice about wearing regular armor I see," said Shinji as they made their way through the hallway.

"Yep," said Red. They came outside and saw **more** droids. "This is just like The War," said Red as he launched a rocket.

"I know," said Shinji, firing. "I just wanna get this over with." Shinji and his squad made their way to an overlook. It was actually the overlook to the collection base. There was a large ramp behind him. They cleared the area of droids and waited for reinforcements. Soon, Troopers arrived and began making a temporary base. Suddenly, Shinji got a call over the communicator.

"Shinji," said Vader's voice. "I have landed. You have done an excellent job so far."

"Thanks," said Shinji. Red was amazed at how casually he spoke to Lord Vader. No one else in the Imperial Army would dare talk to him on such a personal level.

"I have received word that the schematics for new battle droid prototype are inside the complex. The coordinates have been uploaded to your map. Don't fail me."

"No problem," said Shinji. He looked at his map. The schematics were in two separate places. There appeared to be two separate computers, on at each end of a room to the south of their position. Shinji and his squad made their way there. Unfortunately, the droids were waiting. As soon as they entered the room the droids fired, taking out one of the Troopers. Shinji fired back. He saw the computer and threw a thermal detonator at it. It exploded, destroying the computer and three nearby droids.

They made it midway across the room, and Red launched a rocket at the other computer. It was destroyed. Shinji got another call. "Shinji," said Vader, "One of our men was killed while attempting to take a strike beacon to the collection base antenna. Go get it, and take it there."

"Alright," said Shinji. The beacon was right outside. Shinji grabbed it, and he and his squad made it towards the collection base. There were several droids in the way, but they were easily taken care of. Shinji raced to the antenna and placed the beacon on it. He ran back to a safe distance. Suddenly, a Trooper next to Shinji got hit with a sonic wave. Shinji looked behind him to see many Geonosians emerging from the facility. He started firing, getting flashbacks from his battle on Geonosis as he did.

These Geonosians fought in the same swarming patterns that he remembered. He saw a Geonosian firing rockets at the Storm Troopers. 'That must be Delso,' thought Shinji. He ran towards him, firing. Delso saw the shot coming and flew out of the way. He fired a rocket at Shinji. Shinji rolled out of the way and fired back. Delso flew backwards, and Shinji ran up towards him. He fired again.

_Click-click_. 'Oh great,' thought Shinji, 'Why does this always happen?' He pulled out his pistol and fired at Delso. He hit him in the wing and Delso fell to the ground, dropping his rocket launcher. Shinji fired again, but Delso rolled out of the way. Delso pulled out his own pistol and fired. Shinji fired in response. Neither could move fast enough to avoid it. They both blasted each others' blasters out of their hands. Delso jumped at Shinji!

He landed on him and tried to choke him. Shinji grabbed him and pulled him off. Delso kicked him in the head. Shinji dropped him and shook his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears. 'Strongest Geonosian I've ever seen,' thought Shinji as he rushed at Delso. They grappled each other, both now dangerously close to the edge of the platform. Shinji broke free of Delso's grip, and kicked him as hard as he could. Delso flew yards through the air.

He went straight into the lava. Shinji looked up to see several Geonosians preparing to attack him. Suddenly, a red blur cut through them. Shinji got another flashback, to a time when the red blur had been purple. Shinji followed the blur back to its owner.

"Are you alright?" asked Vader.

"Yeah," said Shinji. He searched for his pistol. He found it, and put it back in its holster. "'Bout time you got here," said Shinji.

"I went as fast as I could," said Vader. "You seem to have done a fine job in my absence."

"Thanks," said Shinji. "But I have a question. Why did I have to place that strike beacon on the antenna?"

"Look," said Vader, pointing behind him. Shinji looked, and saw a fast moving object approach the antenna. It wasn't an object really. It was more of a laser. The laser hit the antenna, and it exploded.

"Whoa," said Shinji.

"Good job Shinji," said Vader. "The last remnants of the CIS have been stamped out. We shall be able to have peace now. It should please you to know that you are going to be given credit for this victory."

"Me?" said Shinji. "It was your plan. All I did was-"

"All you did was win the battle for us," said Vader. "My friend, you give yourself far too little credit."

888

With Delso gone and the droids destroyed, Shinji and the 501st were able to leave Mustafar. Shinji was glad. Hopefully, things would be more peaceful from now on. That night however, Shinji had a nightmare. It was Derren Zakdam choking. Shinji woke with a start. He only had that dream if something bad was going to happen. What was going to happen now? Hadn't they just taken care of the last threat to the galaxy? Shinji sat up in bed and thought for a moment.

What was going to happen?

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Oh great! Just when he thought he could sit back and relax, Shinji knows he's going to be off battling again! But who is it now? The answer might just surprise you...

Once again, sorry for the wait.


	14. kamino: civil war

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: Oops! I think I got the time wrong on the last one. This chapter takes place a long time after Episode II. I think (according to the last chapter's math) that it was like 12 years since Episode II. However, after actually playing the game again, I found that I was off a bit. No big deal. I was only 2 years ahead (I think). But, I am now confident that I have the dates correct.

P.S: Really sorry about the wait. I've been busy/distracted. And sorry if it seems rushy.

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Shinji looked over at Alex and Red. They looked so... confused. Not surprising. Shinji was confused as well. This whole situation was insane. In all of the ten years since the Clone Wars had started, including the seven since it had ended, Red, Alex, and Shinji had never once thought that they would ever have to fight the Kaminoens. It was worse for Alex and Red. A fight against Kamino meant a fight against their home... and their brothers.

Kamino had rebelled against the Empire, and had even gone as far as creating their own army of clones. It had come as a big shock to the Empire, and the men of the 501st. Shinji checked his guns. As much as he hated to, he had to use real guns this time. There was no way the he was going to be able to tranquilize a clone, not with the armor they wore. He looked up at the armored man who was with them.

His armor was painted green and brown. His helmet was all scratched up. He wore a jet-pack with a missile in it. He had a very detailed knowledge of the cloning facility on Kamino. His name... was Boba Fett. The only unaltered clone of Jango Fett. The Emperor had hired this young bounty hunter to help lead the troops for this mission. Shinji fept getting this feeling that Boba was looking at him.

"Who are you?" said Boba finally. "You're not a clone. What are you doing with the 501st?"

"Oh, uh," said Shinji nervously, "I'm Shinji."

"Shinji?" said Boba. "As in General Shinji? A bit young aren't you? You only look about 16 or 17."

"I know," said Shinji.

"And besides that," said Boba. "You look like a rookie."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you heard me. You look green. It's hard for me to believe that you're a famous general from the clone wars."

"Well," said Shinji, "It's hard for me to believe that you're a famous bounty hunter. You're only like nineteen or so, but even the Emperor and Vader know your name."

"Touche," said Boba.

"Approaching Kamino, prepare to land," Said a voice over the intercom.

"Well," said Shinji, putting on his helmet, "We're here."

"Yep," said Boba, standing up. "Now stay out of my way."

888

The rain was coming down hard. It was always raining on Kamino. Shinji looked around at the buildings of the cloning facility. He looked at his small group of men. Unfortunately, the other troop transports had been delayed. Shinji, Boba Fett, Alex, and Red were there with only eight men.

"Your first task," said a voice over their communicators, "Is to get a sample of DNA that the Kaminoens are using to create their army. We need to analyze it to see what changes they may have made. Good luck."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," said Boba. He took off towards the facility directly to their north.

"Wait up!" called Shinji. He followed Boba taking Red and two men with him, leaving Alex with the remaining six to guard the area and wait for backup. Shinji and Red caught up to Boba soon enough. "Don't take off like that," said Shinji.

"Don't tell me what to do," said Boba. They were nearing the building, when suddenly lasers started flying passed them. Several clones appeared, all with jetpacks and assault rifles. They were in the original battle armor worn by the Clone Army at the start of the clone war. Boba was the first to return fire. After a moment's hesitation, Shinji began firing too. Red and the other two soon followed.

They made their way towards the building. There was the door! Shinji fought his way over, but it was locked. "Hey!" called Boba. "Get back!" Boba fired a mini-rocket at the door from his wrist launcher. Shinji rolled out of the way. The rocket hit a panel next to the door, as well as a clone who had gotten too close. They panel was destroyed, and the door opened. Shinji got up.

"Watch it!" he said as Boba ran by. Red ran over to Shinji.

"Are you all right?" asked Red.

"Yeah," said Shinji, "I'm fine." He looked at Boba, who was running down the hallway taking out clones left and right. "Arrogant isn't he?" said Shinji as he ran to catch up to him. He caught up just as Boba grabbed the sample. He started to run back down the hallway, but Shinji's hand shot out and grabbed him.

"What are you doing?" asked Boba Fett, "Let me go."

"Not until you understand something," said Shinji. "We work as a team here. I can't have one guy try and go lone wolf in the middle of a battle like this."

"I hear you do it a lot," said Boba.

"Not intentionally," said Shinji. "Not at first. You need to start working with us, instead of just going off and-"

"You don't tell me what to do," said Boba, shaking his shoulder free. "I'm was hired by the Emperor. I'm under his orders, not yours." Boba ran down the hallway, Shinji right behind him. They burst through the doors, only to find Red and the two Troopers under attack. Shinji began blasting, taking out three jet-troopers. Boba lit up another three with his flame thrower. Suddenly, Alex showed up from behind with about ten Troopers. They cleared the area of clones.

"Have more troops arrived?" asked Shinji.

"Yes," said Alex. "We've got around a hundred now."

"Good," said Shinji. Boba started to take off again. "Where are you going?"

"To deliver this DNA sample," answered Boba. Shinji sighed. This was going to be a long battle. Shinji followed Fett. Fett reached an Imperial troop transport, and handed the sample to one of the men inside. The ship pulled back, flying towards the star destroyer.

"Shinji," said a voice over the communicator. "We need you destroy the life support in the clone facility."

"Life support?" asked Shinji "Why do they need life support in the facilities?"

"For the incubators," said the voice. "Now go."

"Incubators?" asked Shinji. "As in, what they use to keep the growing clones alive?"

"Yes," answered Boba. Boba started off towards the facility. Without thinking, Shinji followed him. They battled their way to the facility. Shinji noticed that there only seemed to be 2 kinds of clone soldiers. They either had a jet-pack and an assault rifle, or a chain gun.

Boba Fett and Shinji entered to the facility. they ran down a hallway and entered a door to their left. They found themselves in a large room. Four of the eight walls had huge windows. Shinji could see the giant incubator machines that held the jars that the clones were kept in. Shinji looked at them, and realized he couldn't do it. He couldn't destroy machines keeping babies alive. There was no way he would be able to-

Suddenly there was an explosion! Shinji whirled around. Boba was walking away from a destroyed computer. He had what appeared to be a remote controlled detonator in his hand. He placed it on another computer. He walked a good distance away and detonated it. Shinji watched in horror as he moved on to a third.

"What are you doing!?" exclaimed Shinji.

"My job," said Boba. "Our current mission is to destroy these things."

"Are you completely heartless?!" asked Shinji.

"..." Boba said nothing for a moment. "If you cant do this, get out of the room and cover me until I'm finished. I don't feel all that great about doing this myself, but it's what I'm getting payed for." Shinji left the room. He couldn't do anything about it. He almost cried because of how helpless he was in this situation. Clone or not, fully developed or not, killing a child was wrong. He heard three more explosions, and he shuddered at each one of them. Boba Fett walked out of the room.

Neither of them said a word. They left the building. Almost immediately, they came under fire.

"Those bastards just killed our brothers!" Shinji heard a clone yell. "Kill them!" Shinji reacted instantly, and fired at one of the clones. The clones fired back. Shinji rolled out of the way, while Boba opened fire into the clones as well. Shinji and Boba ran behind a pillar. 10 to 2 were good odds. They looked at each other, and, like only two comrades on a battle field can do, silently formulated a plan. They nodded at each other, and jumped out from behind the pillar.

Boba launched a rocket into the clones, killing three. Shinji fired his assault rifle, brought out his pistol, and fired it too. He took out four in seconds, while Boba fired at another two. The last one managed to raise his gun, before Shinji shot him in the head. Shinji put his pistol back in its holster. His communicator went off again.

"I see you destroyed the incubators," said the voice. "Well done."

"..."

"General?"

"Just shut up and give me the next objective," said Shinji.

"Oh, er, right," replied the voice, a bit startled by Shinji's words. "The Kaminoan leaders responsible for this Rogue Clone Army are escaping in LAATs. Stop them. If they escape, this could happen again."

"Alright," said Shinji. He looked up to see Boba, already moving. "Can't you ever wait up?" asked Shinji.

"Nope," said Boba. "And I only work with you if the situation calls for it. If you learn one thing about me, it's that I work alone. Battles like this are of no interest to me." Boba activated his jet-pack and flew towards a platform. Shinji followed on foot as fast as he could. As he ran, he suddenly saw a giant green laser strike the ground near him. Shinji dodged, as the laser had continued on and moved towards him.

"Never thought I'd see an LAAT attacking me," said Shinji. He continued towards the platform. He made it in time to see Boba launch a mini-rocket at the LAAT. It hit, and the LAAT (now badly damaged) turned its attention towards him. Shinji saw the other one in the distance. It seemed to be heading his way, most likely to help the other.

"Pass me a rocket launcher!" said Shinji to a nearby Storm Trooper. The Trooper tossed him a rocket launcher. Boba took another shot at the LAAT and it was destroyed. However, the other LAAt was now in range. It fired a rocket at Boba. Time seemed to slow down. "Get down!" yelled Shinji. He ran towards Boba. He pushed him out of the way, and took a running jump.

He landed on top of the missile, causing it to move downwards. He fired his own rocket and jumped off of the missile. It slammed into the side of the platform, shaking it a bit but not hurting anything. Shinji's rocket slammed into the side of the LAAT. A Shock Trooper delivered the final blow, and the gun-ship exploded. Shinji turned around to see Boba staring at him. If it weren't for his helmet, Shinji would have been able to see the look of awe on his face.

"That," began Boba, "That was incredible! How did you do that?"

"I don't know," said Shinji. "I just sorta reacted I guess."

"Well whatever you did," said Boba, "You saved my life. I owe you one."

"Sure," said Shinji. "You alright though? I pushed you pretty hard."

"I'm fine," said Boba. Once again, there was a call on the communicator.

"Well done," said the english-accented voice. "This mission is complete. We can head out now." Shinji was glad this nightmare was over.

888

The Battle of Kamino never went down in official records. It couldn't be made public that the Empire's military supplier had tried to rebel. After the incident, Emperor Palpatine decided it was too risky to use an army cloned entirely from only one man. There were eventually several DNA donors, and the Army was soon to be more diversified. The 501st remained the way it was however, with Shinji being the only one who wasn't a clone of Jango Fett.

Days after the mission, Shinji received word that The 501st was set to guard the nearly complete battle station that the Empire had been cooking up for a few years now. Shinji hadn't been told of its existence before now. And he still wasn't told exactly what it was capable of.

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Really Really sorry about the wait. It's been like 2 months. Thank you all for waiting. These chapters in between movies are really killing me. I don't like what Shinji has to do in these, but it has to be done. It's part of the story line after all. And hopefully, Shinji'll get back to Rei soon.

You know, I'll let you in on a little secret. In a few chapters, Rei is going to be getting a huge part. In fact, it'll be making many of the chapters twice as long.

The missile thing was what Solid Snake did in **Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes**. I thought it was cool, so I had to choose between Shinji doing that or just shooting the missile down. Force power!

I'll try and update soon, but I'm not promising anything. I'm balancing between this one and Fool-Proof, so I alternate.


	15. rei

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: I'm back! You haven't gotten rid of me yet! Mwuahahahahaha! I think I got the dates wrong again. I believe that the last chapter was more like 16 years after Episode III. That makes Luke and Leia around 16. That's an important detail, because Episode IV is only three years away. Also, Shinji going to the Death Star has nothing to do with the Battle of Yavin IV.

But, this chapter isn't as much about Shinji. You all wanted to see Rei again, so here she is!

P.S: Really really sorry about the wait. I've been busy/distracted. And suffering from writer's block.

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"Senators," said Palpatine cooly. "Please calm down. There is no problem."

"No problem?" asked a senator from Bespin, "What do you mean no problem? Naboo's Queen has been killed!"

"I know," said Palpatine. "And while it pained me to order an attack on Naboo, it had to be done. They were rebelling, and threatening to secede. If they had succeeded, other planets and maybe even whole systems would have followed. You do not want to risk another civil war like the Clone Wars do you?"

"No," answered the senator, "But why was the Queen killed?"

"Unfortunately," said Palpatine, "She would not come peacefully. She put up quite a fight, and eventually it was clear that we would never take her alive."

'Lies,' thought Rei contemptuously. 'All of it.'

888

Rei walked down the street. The senate meeting had put her in a sour mood. 'Palpatine constantly deceives the senators,' thought the blue haired girl.' I cannot call him a liar either, as he would ask me to provide proof. And if I said that Shinji was telling me anything, it might put him in danger.' She walked to her apartment.

'The only people who can see through his lies are the rebels,' she thought as she took the elevator up to her floor. 'And they are deemed outlaws.' Rei sighed. 'He says that by killing the Queen of Naboo, he has prevented a civil war. I fear that has only sparked it.' She entered her apartment and sat down on the couch. 'Even now there have been other skirmishes between Imperial and so called Rebel forces.' She got up and looked out the window. Coruscant was busy as always. Traffic never seemed to stop. It was like no one ever slept. However, there was always one moment in the day where everything seemed to stop. Sunset.

Time seemed to stand still when the sun went down. A beautiful twilit moment, Coruscant's sunsets where known all across the galaxy as one of the most breathtaking things one could see. She remembered the day Shinji had asked her to dinner. They had watched the sunset together.

She often thought about Shinji, always wondering how he was doing. She knew he didn't really like being a soldier, but she also knew he was stuck with the job. Thinking of Shinji, she remembered that he was supposed to call today.

Sure enough, Shinji called. It was nice to see him, even if he only was a hologram.

"Hi Rei," he said.

"Hello Shinji," she answered.

"How have things been?" he asked.

"The same," said Rei. "I detest Senate meetings. All they do is argue anymore."

"About?"

"Everything it seems," said Rei. "The senators are now worried about a rebellion." Shinji sighed.

"So am I," said Shinji. "Things are looking... well, bad. I really don't want to fight another war, but-"

"But you are stuck with your job," finished Rei, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Well," said Shinji, "I got a new assignment."

"Really?" asked Rei. "Is there another problem?"

"No," says Shinji, sounding relieved. "The 501st got assigned guard duty."

"Guard duty?" asked Rei.

"Yeah," answered Shinji. "Some kind of space station called the Death Star. I'm not to crazy about the name. I'm not exactly sure what it's for, but I'm guessing it's a prison facility for war criminals or something."

"You mean they haven't told you what it is?" asked Rei, mildly shocked.

"They don't tell me a lot of things," said Shinji. "I guess this must have just slipped their minds."

"Well," said Rei. "You're probably right. Good luck with your assignment."

"Hopefully I won't need it," said Shinji. "If everything goes well, I should be looking at a few months of boredom. After that, I finally get my break."

"I look forward to seeing you then," said Rei. They hung up. 'Death Star?' thought Rei. 'What is that? And why hasn't the Emperor mentioned it sooner?' The whole thing didn't seem right to Rei.

While she would have loved to find out what was really going on, she knew she couldn't. Information like that would be kept secret. And she had a feeling that Palpatine was keeping a close eye on the senators' activities. She knew that every conversation she had with Shinji was being listened to. She was always very careful with what she said. She knew that among all of the senators, Palpatine trusted her the least.

She didn't say almost anything at Senate meetings anymore. She felt that it was probably best not to, as her opinions were usually against what the Emperor's were. However, her fellow Coruscantian senators voiced her opinions for her. They had a very similar dislike for the Empire and its procedures. One of her fellow senators even thought that there was some kind of secret plot to eventually disband the Senate, and that the Emperor would get total control.

Although his theory of exactly what the scheme was was a bit farfetched, she did feel that he may be on to something. Palpatine was definitely up to something. But what?

888

Rei walked down the street. She decided that she needed some fresh air. The days events, and her conversation with Shinji, had taken their toll on her mind. She wanted to clear her head before she got a migraine.

She enjoyed walking around Coruscant. There was such a wide range of different people. She found it entertaining to watch the goings on of everyday life. There was a very wide range of people to watch on Coruscant. And since she was Coruscant's senator, she felt that she should really see how the people she represented lived.

She did her usual people watching for a while. Eventually, the sky started changing colors. The people had thinned out in that area, but those remaining all stopped to watch the sunset. As the sun went down Rei stood there watching, captivated by its beauty.

"Pardon me miss," said a somewhat gruff voice from behind her. Rei didn't turn around.

"What?" she asked.

"As you can see, the sun is going down," said the voice.

"Yes," she said, "And if you don't mind, I'm watching it."

"What I meant was," said the voice, "It'll be dark soon. And this city aint safe at night for a pretty young girl like yourself."

"I can handle myself," said Rei, still not turning around.

"I don't think you quite understand miss," said the voice. "We, as in my associates and I, are offering you our services as protection. If you aren't interested, things could get a bit dangerous for you if you get my meaning." Rei finally turned around, an annoyed look on her face. She faced five men, all which looked somewhat dangerous.

"You are bothering me," she said. "Leave now." She turned back around and started walking home. The man who'd been talking grabbed her shoulder.

"Now hold on there you- oof!" Rei proceeded to elbow him in the stomach again, and then a third time. She brought the back of her fist into his face. As he let go, she roundhouse kicked him in the chest. She was facing the thugs again. The four remaining had shocked looks on their faces. One guy got out of his stupor long enough to pull a knife. He ran towards her, preparing to slash. Rei waited for him to get close, then easily sidestepped him and grabbed his knife-wielding arm. She threw him sideways. He landed on the ground, and stayed there dazed for a moment. He reached for his knife, and Rei stepped on his arm. She grabbed the knife, and kicked the thug in the head.

Two of the three remaining thugs came at her. She sidestepped the first one, and kicked him in the back as he went by. He ran straight into a wall. She punched the second guy square in the jaw as soon as he reached her. The first guy tried grabbing her from behind. She somersaulted over his head and grabbed him instead. She held the knife up to his neck. He tried getting free, but she gave a quick jerk of her arm which choked him slightly. The second guy watched carefully, seeing if there was an opening that he could use to free his buddy from the blue-haired girl's grasp.

She suddenly let him go, and kicked him in the second guy's direction. They collided, and Rei moved quickly. She slammed their heads together, knocking them out. The last guy stood there. Rei looked in his direction, her red eyes showing a dangerous mood. He just raised his hands.

"I give!" he exclaimed. "Just make it quick.." Rei nodded. He was soon flat on the ground unconscious. She dropped the knife. The few people left in the area had all watched in amazement. One of them had just happened to be a journalist looking for a story. He had found it.

888

The next day, the news had an unexpected headline. "Senator thrashes thugs." Shinji read it, surprised. Vader liked keeping up with the latest news, so he made sure that whatever ship he was on could receive news from Coruscant.

"Impressive," said Vader as he read the same thing with Shinji. "Rei Ayanami is quite an interesting girl."

"Yeah," agreed Shinji. "I had no idea she could fight like that."

"Me neither," said Vader. "Of course, she did fight on Geonosis if you remember."

"True," said Shinji. "And she knew what she was doing when she was there, too."

"Those thugs had no idea what they were getting into," said Vader, remembering his own experience being on the receiving end of one of Rei's kicks.

"Nope," agreed Shinji.

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Take that thugs! Yeah, I know, short chapter. Oh well. At least I got to show that Rei can still fight when necessary.

To tell you all the truth, it's hard writing these chapters. for some reason, I'm not really interested in the particular point in time that these chapters are taking place. But, as soon as I get to chapters I like I'll get them done faster and hopefully better.

Hope you liked it anyway!


	16. death star: plans

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: that last chapter was not the best filler in the world, but you all didn't think it was too bad. Actually though, Rei beating up those thugs is going to be an important detail in a few chapters.

Oh well, back to Shinji. Oh, and this is not at episode 4. I got a lot of reviews talking about that.

P.S: I'm so sorry it took this long. Read the author's note at the bottom of the page for a full apology.

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Shinji's head rested on the desk. He was feeling kind of depressed. Lord Vader walked up to him. "What is the matter Shinji?"

"It's this place," answered the brown-haired boy. "We've been here for like six months. Constant patrols get old quickly."

"I can see that you're bored," said Vader, "But you also seem kind of sad. What is the problem?"

"Well," said Shinji, lifting his head off of the desk, "It's just..."

"Go ahead."

"It's Rei."

"Huh?" asked Vader curiously.

"I only get to see her for a little while every year," said Shinji. "And... Well... I don't know exactly. There's something I want to tell her, but I don't know how to put it into words."

"Ah," said Vader. He took a seat next to Shinji. "I see. Well as long as I have known you and Rei, I always knew you two had something between you. I could sense it easily enough. You care about her a great deal don't you?"

"Yes," said Shinji. "Exactly. And she and I never get to spend time together."

"It's part of being in your position Shinji," said Vader. "Think about it. You are one of our most important generals, correct? And you are in the most elite legion in the Imperial Army. The Empire may need you at any time if an emergency situation arises. So that's why you have nearly year long periods of service with so little time off." Shinji sighed.

"I'm not cut out for all of this," said Shinji. "I've been in the army for about twenty years, and I still don't feel like I'm up to it."

"It is because you really aren't," said Vader.

"Huh?"

"Shinji," explained Vader, "When you are on the battle-field, you are like a different person. One look at you in a normal situation, and no one would ever suspect that you are a person who can take down a capital ship single-handedly. But that's the thing that keeps you in the army. You, a kind and timid boy, are forced to be kept on a military craft for about a year at a time because of a fearless and ruthlessly intelligent warrior that only shows up in battle." Shinji still looks down.

"But do not despair Shinji," said Vader. "You get to take your three week break in a few days."

"Three weeks?" asked Shinji. "I thought I only got two."

"I talked to the Emperor," said Vader. "I managed to talk him out of an extra week of vacation for you."

"Really?" asked Shinji. "Thanks Anakin."

"My name is Vader now," said the Sith lord. "Remember?"

"Sorry," said the young general. "But thanks."

"And about your problem with Rei," said Vader. "I was reading the news, and I came across something that you may be interested in."

"What?"

"A play," said Vader. "It's going to be playing on Coruscant soon. Perhaps you and Rei could go."

"What kind of play is it?" asked Shinji.

"It is called 'Beauty and the Beast',"said the armored cyborg. "It is apparently a love story. Who knows? It may inspire you, or help you put into words exactly what you want to tell Rei." Shinji thought about it for a moment.

"That just might work," said Shinji. "Thanks."

888

Lieutenant Misato Katsuragi sat in her cell aboard the Death Star. She was impatient. A few months of planning were about to come to fruition. She, along with other Rebel prisoners, had been planning a break out. They had taken the utmost care to make sure that the Imperial Forces currently stationed here had no idea what was going to happen. Unfortunately, Darth Vader was said to be inside the station. That would be a difficult obstacle to get around.

The purple haired lieutenant sighed. She was only in here because she had been careless. One of her operations, a mission to spy on the Empire from inside the system, had gone wrong. She had done very well before that. For almost a year, she had disguised herself as a senator's secretary. The particular senator was from Coruscant. He was one of three, along side Rei Ayanami and another senator.

By the time she had been caught, she had wired the senate chamber and had been able to listen to all of their meetings. She had also managed to wire the Emperor's office. Luckily, when Imperial forces caught on to her spy operation they hadn't discovered the wiring in the office. Otherwise, she could have gotten worse than just a prison sentence.

She was a talented spy, but she felt better when fighting. But she hadn't seen much lately, and she was itching for a fight. Luckily, today was the day. She was sure to see some action today.

Tap tap tap There it was. The signal. Misato went up to her cell door. She started banging on it.

"Knock it off," said the guard. There was only one on duty at the moment.

"Help help!" exclaimed Misato.

"What?" said the guard.

"I'm having a- ack!" she fell to the ground. The guard, who'd been ordered to make sure the prisoners were kept alive, rushed in. He bent over to inspect her motionless body. She suddenly grabbed him and jumped up. She took the pistol from his holster. And held it to his head. "Where is your security key?"

"On my belt," said the guard. "In the pouch on the left side."

"Thank you," said Misato, throwing the man to he ground. She kicked him in the head for good measure. The guard was knocked unconscious. She took his assault rifle, and then took his security card from the pouch on his belt. She left her cell and locked the door behind her. She shot the surveillance camera on the wall, just before it made it's turn back in her direction. "Alright guys," she said, "It's time to go."

888

"I look forward to seeing you," said the hologram of Rei.

"Alright," said Shinji. "I'll be home in three days. Goodbye Rei."

"Goodbye Shinji." The hologram disappeared. Shinji breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well," he said, "I did it." Vader was about to congratulate him, when suddenly an alarm started blaring.

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I am so sorry. this has been done for months, but I wanted to do the whole Death Star thing in one go. I decided to split it instead into two, short chapters. I should've thought about doing it earlier.

A lot's been happening in my life lately. A friend of mine died a few weeks ago, and my old middle-school band director died the week before that. That's not an excuse for this mess though.

But, I've been suffering from writer's block on a massive scale. To those who were waiting, I thank you for sticking with me. And I'm sorry if this isn't nearly what you deserve after the wait. The Darth Maul is giving me problems too, but now that it's Christmas Vacation, I'll have more time to write.

Hope to update soon

Ever apologetic,

Aneirin.


	17. death star: prison break

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Star Wars. Just this story.

Authors note: I am back. At long last, I have returned. You can thank straightedgebigevil for the PM that finally got me back to working on this. I'd been working on other stuff so long, and putting this chapter off. I'm sorry. Also, gotta thank Nickelback again, for their music inspires me in this story.

So, last time we left off, an alarm in the Death Star had just gone off. Keep in mind, this is not Episode IV. This is in fact the event that leads to the opening events of Episode IV, which will take place a good deal after this chapter.

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"What's going on!?" exclaimed Shinji.

"Sir!" came a voice over the intercom.

"What happened!?" demanded Shinji.

"It's a breakout sir!" explained the voice. "All the prisoners have escaped from cell block 21-8G!"

"Seal off the exits!" ordered Shinji. "Get all available men down there to suppress the-"

"Sir! The prisoners have armed themselves!"

"Then move on the double!" exclaimed Shinji. "I'll be there right away!" He contacted Alex and Red, telling them to organize the soldiers. He ended the transmission, and grabbed his helmet. "I do not need this right now!" he said, jamming his helmet on. He grabbed his blaster and ran out of the room.

'One moment worrying about his feelings for a girl,' thought Vader, 'Next moment off to battle. This is exactly what I was talking about.' He walked out of the room. He was sure Shinji could handle this himself, but he would be ready on standby if necessary.

Shinji ran down the stairs outside of the room, which was overlooking hangar 84-G. 'Why now?' he thought. 'Why does this have to happen right now?' He entered the hangar to find a scene of chaos. The Trooper who'd contacted Shinji hadn't been fast enough. Prisoners had already gotten out of the cell block.

Shinji opened fire immediately, shouting to his troops, "Set your blasters to stun! I wanna know who thought up this whole thing!" Shinji, up to this point, had never been able to use the stun setting on his blaster, always having to use his tranquilizers if he didn't want to kill. The only reason for this was because the stun setting emitted a very different looking blast than the regular setting, and it would have given away Shinji's merciful nature right away.

His men nodded, and set their weapons to stun. Luckily, lack of casualties made this a justifiable move. In a few short moments, every rebel was out cold. Shinji shuddered to think what would have happened if one of his men had gotten hit while using a stun blaster on the enemy. "Vader," said a voice behind him, speaking Shinji's thoughts, "Will not be pleased with this."

"And why not, Tarkin?" asked Shinji, turning around. Tarkin

"If one of your men had been killed by those Rebel scum," said Tarkin, "You would have been blamed. Using stun on an enemy who has no intention of sparing your life, is an idiotic-"

"It worked didn't it?" asked Shinji. "Now shut up, make yourself useful, and start dragging these Rebels to a secure location. I need every spare man I can getting these prisoners locked up again."

"How dare you order me?" asked Tarkin. "I am-"

"Very high ranking, and an important figure in the Empire," said Shinji. "I don't care. At this moment, and considering the current situation, I am the commanding officer here. So unless Vader or the Emperor says otherwise, you're going to have to do what I say. Understand?" Tarkin narrowed his eyes.

"Yes sir," he spat. He began helping certain Troopers Shinji selected to move the unconscious Rebels. Shinji picked out another squad to come with him to cell block 21-8G.

888

A blaster shot hit right next to Misato's head. She shot back, taking out the Trooper who'd fired. "Damn," she said. "That one was close. Pfft, stupid troopers. Vader's Fist, huh?" She blasted another one. "If this is the best they've got, we can win this war easy."

"This is only working," said a young man next to her, "Because we caught them totally off guard. Do you know who I've heard is at the base?"

"Who?" asked Misato, ducking behind some crates for cover while she loaded another blaster clip.

"I've heard that they have a general here," said the man, blasting at a Trooper. "A general of legendary calabur."

"So what?" asked Misato. "He's just one man. What can one guy do?"

"I am just one man," said her partner, "And you know what I can do." Misato nodded. "And besides," continued the young man, darkly, "He's supposed to have been the general who was at the Jedi Temple when it fell."

"What!?" exclaimed Misato, almost dropping her gun. "But, the only general who was there... they say he took out the most Jedi besides Vader himself!"

"Exactly," said the man, handing her something wrapped in some tan-colored cloth he'd ripped from his own tunic. "Which is why you need to get out of here with this now."

"But," said Misato, "I can't leave you and the others behind. I helped plan this thing, I-"

"You are forgetting that this is the reason for the break out. With this, we can deal a crippling blow to the Empire. Besides, I sense someone else here. Someone worse than this general." Misato's face went pale.

"Y-you don't mean..." the man nodded.

"I'll cover you," he said. "Just go. I will start heading for hangar 85-G. I'll create a distraction there. You head for 83-G as quickly and stealthily as you can, alright?" Misato nodded. "May the Force be with you." The man jumped up and attacked the oncoming Troopers. Misato, left with no other choice, stayed hidden and began moving away from the battle. Unfortunately, to get to 83-G, she'd have to go back through the cell block she'd broken out of. 21-8G.

888

The cell block was more chaotic than the hanger had been, Shinji quickly decided. This riot was much worse than he thought. He quickly radioed some of his men. "Don't bother trying to contain them at the cell block! Repeat, don't waste time containing the cell block! Concentrate on locking down sector G from the rest of the station. We can't stop them from getting out of the cell block, but we **can** stop them from getting out of this sector."

"Yes sir," said the Trooper on the other line. Shinji put down his communicator and started blasting. There were so many of them! Shinji rolled behind a control panel as a Rebel blasted at him. He took out a stun grenade and tossed it. It exploded, taking out 6 Rebels.

"Sir!" came a voice over Shinji's communicator. "We've just received intelligence from a roused prisoner. The Rebels are after the Death Star plans! We can't let them escape with those plans at any cost!"

"Understood," said Shinji. Suddenly, Shinji heard a voice from down the central hall of the cell block.

"I've got them!" said the voice, clearly female, "Cover me!" Shinji jumped up from his hiding place. He saw a purple haired woman in the direction of the voice, and started running towards her.

"Trooper!" exclaimed a Rebel. "Get him!" They began blasting at Shinji, who rolled out of the way and into an empty cell. He peeked out, at which point the Rebels blasted instantly. He was pinned down.

Meanwhile, as Misato and the other Rebels kept back the Troopers, one of the Rebels came up with a plan. "Permission to carry the plans commander!" he called in a loud voice. Shinji tried looking out to see who'd spoken, but was forced back into cover again.

"What?" hissed Misato, "Are you crazy? I have to-"

"It's the only way," whispered the Rebel, winking. Then, in a louder voice, he called, "I'll head to 85-G with it, like planned." Misato nodded. Shinji looked out just in time for her to hand him something.

"Permission granted," she said. They ran off in separate directions, her to Shinji's left and him to Shinji's right. He finally rolled out of the cell and blasted, taking out all of the Rebels in short order. He ran to the end of the hall.

"Damn," he said. This was one of the most treacherous areas in the station. It seemed to be some sort of reactor or power room. That's not what concerned Shinji. What concerned him was the fact that there were only narrow walkways with no railings between everyone there and a seemingly bottomless pit. Plus, the walkways were sometimes hard to distinguish from the walls, which were a light green color with several white lights. All in all, a very flawed room.

Shinji was snapped from his thoughts by blaster fire. He blasted back. It was almost impossible to avoid killing someone in this room. Even if he stunned them, there was a good chance they'd fall to their deaths. Shinji's men seemed to realize this, as the switched back to standard blaster mode. Shinji, instead of fighting, decided it would be best to follow his primary objective: recapture the plans from the Rebels. He saw the man he was after already halfway to the end of the room. Shinji ran after him full speed. Shnji blasted at him, but missed due to the stun blasts lack of range.. The Rebel, now quite aware that someone was after him, blasted back at Shinji. Shinji jumped back, carefully avoiding the edge of the walkway. The Rebel kept running. As he past the door, he blasted the panel. It took out the small bridge that connected the walkway to the next room.

"Ha!" called the Rebel. "Take that Storm Trooper! No man can make that jump!" Shinji didn't respond. He started running forward. No time to go get a jump-pack. The Rebel would be long gone by then As he was running, Shinji got a transmission.

"Sir!" said the voice. "The Rebels have taken control of the fire-control room."

"I think I'm headed towards it now," said Shinji. "Don't worry about it."

"But scans indicate the walkway is out!"

"I know," responded Shinji. The Rebel was still laughing.

"You can't make it!" he warned. "Don't try it!" Shinji didn't falter. Something about his confidence made the Rebel take a step back. Shinji reached the edge and jumped. The Rebel's mouth dropped open as he took another step back. He was to shocked to raise his gun and blast Shinji out of the air. Shinji cleared the chasm and landed right in front of the Rebel. Shinji looked at him and delivered an upper-cut. The Rebel was knocked back a few inches, and fell over. He scrambled to get up and get away, but Shinji was too fast. He grabed the Rebel and hauled him up.

"You'd best give me those plans back," said Shinji. Suddenly, there was blaster fire, and the wall next to Shinji's head was hit. Shinji ducked, letting go of the Rebel in the process. The Rebel made a mad dash to his comrades, who were aiming at Shinji. Shinji looked at them. 8 in all, and one of them was a Wookie.

"You picked the wrong day to get brave," said one of them. "Jumping that gap was impressive, but stupid. You're outnumbered."

"I've faced worse," said Shinji. Shinji got up and charged at them. They blasted, allowing the Rebel with the plans to leave. Shinji dodged their fire and blasted back. He stunned one Rebel and rolled out of the way of the retaliatory shots. He threw a stun grenade, knocking out three of them. He then took advantage of one of the Rebels who happened to be reloading. Quick as a flash, Shinji ran up and disarmed him. He grabbed the Rebel and held him in front of himself.

"Coward!" cried the Rebel. "Using a human shield!"

"Coward?" asked Shinji, aiming his blaster at the others. "Like I'm going up against a Wookie with no protection, right? Besides, in case you haven't noticed I'm not trying to kill any of you. I'm only using stun." He shot two of the remaining Rebels to prove his point. Now, it was just him and the Wookie. The man Shinji was holding struggled valiantly to get free, but was helpless in Shinji's vice-like grip.

Shinji and the Wookie were at a standstill. Neither wanted to fire: the Wookie because he didn't want to hit his friend, and Shinji because he wasn't sure if the stun blaster would work on the Wookie. Suddenly, Shinji threw the Rebel at the Wookie, then, taking advantage of the confusion, blasted at both of them. He knocked out the human, but, as he thought, the Wookie was still standing. Shinji shot him several more times, but it hardly slowed the Wookie down.

The Wookie tried firing back, but was out of ammo. He rushed forward at Shinji and tried to grab him. Shinji quickly dropped his gun. As soon as the Wookie reached him, he locked hands with him. The Wookie hadn't expected him to do this, so was rather caught off guard. The Wookie tried forcing him down, but found Shinji to be a lot harder to move than he thought.

"I've fought with Wookies before," said Shinji, "Back in the Clone Wars. They were such wonderful people." The Wookie was confused. What was this Storm Trooper doing? "Sure, we're enemies now, but I want you to know that I deeply respect Wookies."

"Rrrggg," growled the Wookie.

"Maybe I **am** trying to distract you," grunted Shinji. "However, the point I was trying to get at was this. My Wookie friends taught me a few moves." With that, he suddenly twisted at the waist, kicking out at the Wookie's feet as he did. It was a classic move used by Wookies when wrestling. Shinji used his opponents weight against him, and threw him to the ground. The Wookie was slightly dazed. Shinji pulled out his tranquilizer, which he always kept with him. He shot the Wookie a few times, finally knocking him out. He radioed back to his men. "I'm in pursuit of the Rebel carrying the plans. I may need back up, so hurry up and fix the bridge leading to the fire-control room."

He put his communicator away, looking at the giant cannon that was in the room. He'd once asked exactly what it was for. "For defense," Vader had said. Looking at it now, Shinji knew it was too powerful for just defense. What could a gun like this be used for? Why would they need something this powerful? Shinji looked closer at the gun. The energy source was showing. For some reason, it looked familiar.

However, he didn't have time for wondering what the weapon was for. While he rued the fact that he wasn't always told everything, right now he needed to get the Rebel with the plans.

888

Misato dodged just out of sight, and watched two Storm Troopers run past her. 'That was close,' she thought. She could still hear the sounds of the battle behind her. 'I hope the others are all right.' She continued forward, knowing she couldn't stop. She had to get to hangar 83-G. She moved quietly through the corridors. Her friends were causing quite a distraction, as evidenced by the lack of Storm Troopers. As long as they led the Troopers all to 85-G, she could get away from 83-G no problem.

She kept moving, keeping a sharp lookout for the enemy. Suddenly, something caught her eye. Someone had left a surveillance room unattended, and the door was stuck open. She looked at the screens. She saw several shots of the battle. The whole thing was so chaotic that she couldn't tell who was winning. However, she eventually found a screen that was quite disturbing. It was labeled "fire-control room." She saw a lone Trooper take out 7 men, and then wrestle a Wookie to the ground. 'That's gotta be him,' she thought, not believing what she was seeing. 'That general he was talking about. What exactly are we up against?' She kept watching, following his progress through the corridors. She could tell it was him because he was alone, and because of the skill he displayed.

He moved through crowded corridors of Rebels, never once getting hit. He would practically plow through them. Misato paled as she watched. This guy was unstoppable! Suddenly, he was hit in the shoulder. Ha! So he wasn't perfect! Unfortunately, he hit the guy that had shot him soon afterwards. Misato kept watching for a few more moments, astounded. This guy must have been fighting for over 20 years. How could he still be this fit? He moved with the energy of a fresh young warrior, and the skill of a hardened veteran.

'That tears it,' she thought. 'I definitely need to get out of here before he finds out exactly what's going on.' With that thought in mind, she left the room, heading for the hangar.

888

Shinji was holding his injured shoulder, pinned down in the hallway. He threw a grenade towards the Rebels, noting grimly that he was almost out. He had one left. The one he'd thrown went off, and Shinji kept moving. The hallway ended in stairs, which he ran up. He came into a room that was occupied by three Rebels. He took them out. "I'm almost at the hangar," he reported.

"Good," said Alex. "Red and I are almost there ourselves. We'll be with you in a moment."

"Good" said Shinji. "Hurry though, I still might need backup." Shinji took a few moments to check all his equipment. He had enough ammo, he was down to one grenade, and he still had his tranquilizer if it came down to it. Suddenly, several Storm Troopers entered the room.

"Shinji,"said Red, "We succeeded in fixing the bridge. There are several more Troopers on their way. All of the Rebels up to this point have been taken care of."

"Good," said Shinji. "Then let's go." They headed out of the room and into the next. Unfortunately, it was another room that had a pit. It was a long, oval shaped room, with one bridge connecting between one side and the other. there was a walkway all the way around, but the bridge was easiest. Unfortunately, the Rebels blew the controls as soon as they entered the room, causing the bridge to retract. "Not again," groaned Shinji.

He looked around. They would have to take the walkways now, but that would take too long "Alright, Red you go left and Alex you go right."

"And you?" asked Alex.

"I'll take middle," said Shinji. He took several steps back. "Someone's gotta slow them down so you guys can catch up." Before either Alex or Red could stop him, Shinji took a running jump and cleared the gap. He stumbled a bit on the landing. "Don't anybody else try that!" he called. "I just got lucky. I'll see you guys in a minute." Red and Alex watched as their friend ran off down the hallway.

"That Shinji," said Red.

"He's something else," said Alex. They started off around the walkways. Shinji, meanwhile, was hurrying along after the Rebels, blasting at those in the rear. The rest kept going, having heard from the Rebel Shinji was after what kind of man they were up against. They could take him in the hangar, they were sure of it.

The Rebel group got to the Hangar, down four men with only 7 remaining. Shinji was right in after them. However, he was confronted by at least 20 men, including the Rebel he was after. They seemed to be trying to hijack an Imperial Transport. Shinji fired, taking one out. The rest started firing at him. He dodged behind a crate. "Watch out," radioed Shinji. "There are at least a score of men in here, and they're all very hostile. I'll do what I can to thin them out."

"Roger," answered Alex. Shinji jumped out and opened fire. He kept running while he was blasting, making sure never to run in a straight line or a pattern. Rebels kept firing, but Shinji was able to evade them all. Suddenly, Red and Alex burst in with the reinforcements. Together, they made short work of the Rebels.

Shinji found the one they were looking for. He woke him up. "Where are the plans?" he asked. The Rebel smiled.

"Don't have 'em," he said. "He does."

"He?" asked Shinji, looking around. "Who's He?"

"Me," said a voice. Shinji turned around, seeing a man in a tan colored tunic walking towards them. He was spinning something around his finger. It was some kind of metalic device attached to a metal ring. It looked familiar, but Shinji couldn't quite tell what it was. "I'm the one who's got the Death Star plans, and the one who came up with this plan."

"So you started this riot, huh?" asked Shinji, stepping towards him. He signaled for his men to hold their fire. "Well, it's over. You may as well give up now. You're outnumbered."

"Hmph," smirked the man. "Outnumbered? That doesn't seem to stop you. You're the general, aren't you?" Shinji nodded. "I've heard a lot about you. They told us that the greatest general from the Clone War days was here, probably to frighten us or keep us in place. But, I wanna see if you're as great as they say." He stopped spinning the object and caught it. Shinji's eyes widened. It was a lightsaber handle. He took another from his belt. The man activated both at once. Two brilliant green beams shot forth from the handles.

"I am a Jedi who survived your attack on the Temple," he declared. "I was a child at the time. I heard you were there. Let's see if you can take me now!" He charged forward.

"It's a Jedi!" Red cried into his communicator. "We may need backup!" They started firing at the Jedi, now with the standard setting, but he simply deflected their blasts back at them.

"Stop firing!" exclaimed Shinji. "He's only going to deflect them! I can take him!" The Jedi kept charging. Shinji pulled out his tranquilizer and started firing. However, the Jedi dodged. The Jedi Reached Shinji and slashed, only to have Shinji roll out of the way.

Shinji was on his feet immediately. The Jedi brought both sabers down on him at once. Shinji caught his hands, grabbing the lightsaber handles in the process. Each struggled to gain control of the weapons. Finally, Shinji kicked the Jedi away, managing to keep his hold on one of the lightsabers.

"Fine," said the Jedi, standing up straight. "A lightsaber duel it is." He charged forward, feeling that he would have the upper hand. He slashed at Shinji, who blocked easily. Shinji countered, the Jedi blocking his attack as well. They kept attacking, the Jedi feeling less and less confident as the battle went on.

"Didn't think I could use a lightsaber, huh?" asked Shinji, going for a diagonal cut. The Jedi blocked, forced Shinji's saber away, and went for a horizontal slash. Shinji dodged and went for a vertical strike.

"No," admitted the Jedi. "I didn't." The Jedi and Shinji attacked at the same time, locking sabers. Shinji got his first good look at the Jedi's face. He gasped.

"You," he muttered. "Not you..." Shinji could still see the boy's face as he asked Anakin, "What are we going to do?" This was impossible.

"Huh?" asked the Jedi. They kept pushing their sabers against each other, neither wanting to back down.

"I remember you," whispered Shinji. "At the temple. You were one of the kids Vader was going to kill. I saved you." The Jedi looked astounded at first, then angry.

"Liar!" he hissed, pushing harder. "The person that saved me was a great man! He would never stay with the Empire! His name was-"

"General Shinji," said Shinji, "Of the 501st. I played hide and seek with you, and as I recall you were very good at it. I had to get Rei's help to find you." The Jedi's eyes shone with recognition.

"It **is** you," he whispered. He let his saber go slightly slack.

"Don't!" hissed Shinji. "Keep fighting! It's the only way I can keep you alive!" The situation was crazy. Shinji certainly hadn't had any plans to kill anyone, but now he had to go beyond that. He had to fight the prisoner to save his life. But, he couldn't let him die. He saved this Jedi in the first place. Technically, that meant this whole break out was his fault.

"Why are you helping me now Shinji?" asked the Jedi. "You're with the Empire now."

"Not by choice," said Shinji. "I just want peace. If I could get out of the military, I would." He jumped back and slashed at the Jedi again, taking the hint, the Jedi fought back. They exchanged a few blows before coming back to a standstill.

"If you want peace," said the Jedi, "Than join the Rebellion."

"No," said Shinji. "They want to start a war." He slashed at the Jedi, who countered.

"For the right reasons," said the Jedi. "But if you don't want to, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" asked Shinji, blocking an attack.

"I can't give up," said the Jedi. "As much as I appreciate what you want to do, I can't cooperate with you." They slashed at each other again. "Only one of us is making it out of this battle alive!" he yelled, rushing at Shinji.

"Yes," said a voice. "That is correct." Suddenly, a red beam seemed to grow out of the Jedi's chest. Vader pulled his saber out and deactivated it. The Jedi fell to the ground. Shinji deactivated the lightsaber and dropped it, dropping down to inspect the Jedi. He was still breathing, but barely. Shinji removed his helmet. The Jedi looked up at him. He smirked.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Shinji, trying not to cry out. He hadn't wanted it to end like this.

"Heh," laughed the Jedi. "The plans. I... don't have 'em."

"What?" asked Shinji.

"We got you," he said, looking first at Shinji, and then at Vader. Both Shinji and the Jedi could feel Vader's rage building. "I handed the plans to someone else a long time ago. Then, she pretended to hand them off to him-" he motioned towards the man Shinji had chased "-who said he'd given them to me. She's long one by now. Ha... Ha..." He died with a weak, yet triumphant, smile on his face.

Neither Vader nor Shinji said a word.

888

"The battle's over," Misato said to herself. "I just know it." She looked at the package in her hands. "This is it. This is the key to the Rebels' victory. I'll get this to Admiral Ackbar and the other Rebels." She looked back at the station. "Their sacrifices won't be in vain." She set the coordinates of the nearest Rebel hideout and jumped into hyperspace.

888

"I want as many men as possible on Star Destroyers now!" ordered Vader. He stormed along a corridor, with Shinji right behind him. "We will get those plans back at any cost." He turned to Shinji. "I want your entire ship ready for takeoff within the hour."

"But Vader," said Shinji. "It's one ship. Why do I have to go after it? I'm supposed to leave-"

"You," interrupted Vader, "Are not going to be going anywhere Shinji. I left the guarding of this ship to you. I left quelling this riot up to you. Perhaps my faith in you was misplaced?"

"No," said Shinji. "I did stop the riot. They tricked me, okay? They tricked all of us!"

"This is not up for debate Shinji," said Vader. "Those plans are of the upmost importance. We must get them back. I'll keep you for another whole year if I have to. I am sorry, but the matter is closed." Vader walked away, leaving Shinji alone, speechless. Shinji slowly made his way to his ship. "Prep the ship for takeoff," he told a passing Trooper automatically. He saw Tarkin as he entered his ship. He was smirking.

"I told you," said Tarkin. "I dare say that you may have been better off just killing them." Shinji only looked back at Tarkin for a moment. Not responding in any other way, Shinji headed into his ship and to his room. He sat down at a small desk where he kept some of his personal items. He sat there for a moment, before his head went crashing to the desk. He put his hands on his head, a sob escaping his lips. He couldn't go home. He couldn't see Rei. All because he'd made a mistake.

For the first time since the very beginning of the Clone Wars... Shinji had failed.

888

Rei went to bed, feeling very happy. She would see Shinji again in three days. She drifted off to sleep, smiling. Just three days.

--

The mighty Shinji has finally failed. The Rebel Misato has escaped with the Death Star plans. Shinji can't go home. And poor Rei, so happy to know when he was coming back, has no idea.

What will happen with the Death Star plans? Where will tracking them take Shinji? And will he ever make it back to Rei? Tune in next time and find out.

So, there you have it. Chapter 17. Not the best battle, I know, but I'm out of practice. And besides, the battle itself wasn't the important thing. It was all the little things that happened in and after it, as well as the one big thing, Misato escaping. And yes, the Shinji/Tarkin interaction is going to come into play later. It wasn't just some random thing. And the Jedi being one of the Padawans Shinji saved back during Order 66 will also be important later.

Sorry again for the wait. I'll try harder from now on to keep that from happening. I think I'm finally back!


	18. polis massa: vault of memories

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Evangelion.

Author's note: I have returned.

* * *

Shinji's eyes opened, and he took in his surroundings, as he did each morning. As he did each morning, he got out of bed, closed his eyes in contemplation, and sighed. As he did each morning, he put on his armor and checked his sidearm. And as he did each morning, he walked to his bedroom door, which opened at his command, and he punched the wall to his left as hard as he could.

*CLANG!* The sound reverberated through the mostly empty hallway. There weren't many men here at this hour, but there were a few. If Shinji noticed them, he didn't acknowledge them, and they certainly didn't try and catch his eye. He passed them all by and made his way to the bridge.

Behind him, Commander Red left his own room: the one to the left of Shinji's. Alex was already in the hallway, and walked over to greet him.

"He's still in that mood, eh?" asked Alex.

"Like you need to ask," answered Red. "I need you to look at this, though. I'm starting to get very concerned." He beckoned Alex into his room, and pointed at the wall to his right. Alex's eyes widened in shock.

"What in the..." his voice trailed off. There was a large dent just a bit lower than shoulder height. "How in the galaxy did that happen?"

"Shinji is my alarm clock," said Red. "I know that it's time to get up every morning when I hear that happening."

"You mean he's...?"

"Does it really surprise you?" asked Red. "You've seen some of the things he's capable of. The gap he jumped? The tank back on Utapau? The cliff all those years ago on Geonosis?" Alex was silent, and so Red continued. "Every morning, he's so frustrated with the current state of affairs that he hauls off and smashes his fist into that wall. When two things collide, either one thing breaks, or the other. Common sense dictates that his hand should be the thing breaking, but it's not. It's the wall."

"That shouldn't be possible," said Alex. "That's high-grade plastisteel, and more parts metal than anything else."

"Sometimes I really wonder," said Red. "Just how human is Shinji? Do you ever wonder if he's more than that?"

"I don't know," said Alex. "I do know this though. Given his record, what we know about him, and that-" he pointed directly at the wall "-I'm just glad he's with us."

Shinji's thoughts, meanwhile, where elsewhere. As he mechanically made his way to the bridge, his mind drifted back to what was now almost a year ago. Rei's hologram had been sitting in front of him, and he had had trouble trying to say what was happening.

"I... Rei, I..." he had fumbled.

"Yes?" she had asked, her normally blank face displaying the smallest hint of confusion.

"I have bad news," Shinji had finally said, his heart and hers both sinking at the words. "I can't come home."

Shinji, presently, took a deep breath. Rei had nodded and said she'd understood. But he knew better. He didn't know how, but he felt her emotions; all the pain she felt upon knowing they couldn't see each other. Or had it just been his own pain? He wasn't sure where hers began and his ended, but he was certain he could feel it, somewhere, somehow.

He snapped back to reality as he entered the bridge. The pilots and officers in the room acknowledged him and then went back to work. He took a deep breath in and waited. In moments, a hologram of Darth Vader faded into existence in front of him. Shinji was one of the few men in the room not visibly uncomfortable with the Sith Lord's virtual appearance.

"Shinji," he began, "I have a new assignment for you."

"What?" asked Shinji, somewhat irate.

"We've tracked the stolen plans, at long last, to Polis Massa," said Vader, ignoring Shinji's attitude. "You are quite close to that asteroid. I want you to go there."

Shinji had been in the military for over 20 years. He had seen things, and been forced to do things, that to some men would be unimaginable. In all this time, especially in the Empire, there was one thing he'd learned: how to keep a straight face. At the mention of Polis Massa, it took all Shinji had to keep that face.

"Polis Massa, sir?" he asked. "Isn't that just a medical station?"

"So you've heard of it," said Vader. "Good. The place troubled me when the report came in. I don't know why. I have the feeling that the Rebels are hiding something there, something other than the plans."

"I've been there before, sir," said Shinji. "Once, years ago. I don't believe the Rebels could be hiding anything there. It's too small a station." Vader was questioningly silent. "I will check it, though. Chances are they could be hiding a few tanks in the landing bay, or the cargo bay."

"I take it you did a thorough inspection last time you were there," said Vader.

"Enough to know where they'd keep anything they might have," said Shinji. "If they have anything, I'll find it."

"Good," said Vader. "Do not fail me."

"I won't," said Shinji. The hologram dissipated, and Shinji sighed. "Come out of hyperspace far enough away from Polis Massa that we won't be detected, and then sneak in. We don't want those plans getting away again. I, for one, want to go home."

"Agreed," said Alex, having entered the bridge during Vader's transmission.

"We could all use a little down time, here," said Red. "Everyone get ready." Shinji nodded towards his two commanders, choosing to let them handle preparations. He had his own mission to get ready for. A personal one.

888

Once they touched down on the station, Shinji knew there wouldn't be much time. He turned to Red and Alex. "You two will be in charge of battle operations," he said. "I've been here before. I'm going to go off on my own and try to find that holocron, alright?"

"What makes you think you'll find it?" asked Alex

"Hunch," answered Shinji, putting on his helmet.

"Shouldn't we send someone to back you up?" asked Red.

"No," answered the general, "this mission is safest alone. I'll be fine, but I need the distraction you guys can provide. I have to find the holocron before they can move it, alright? You follow any information on it's supposed whereabouts, anything that comes in, and I'll look for it independently, in case this is just another wild chase."

"Makes enough sense to me," said Red. "Let's get moving." Shinji watched as Red and Alex pressed forward, leading the troopers. However, he had other matters to attend to.

He moved as quickly and quietly as possible. He could hear the sounds of battle beginning down the hall. He stopped for a moment, trying to think of the best possible route towards the basement levels of the complex.

Suddenly, he got the feeling all was not right. He looked around and saw nothing, but the feeling kept getting stronger. Giving into instinct, he rolled to the right, and just in time. He got up in time to see a crate that had been next to him disintegrate. He blasted at where he suspected the source of the attack had come from. He had set his blaster to stun.

"Argh!" cried a voice. Shinji heard a thud. Suddenly, on the floor in front of him, something materialized. It was a Bothan! Shinji knelt down to make sure the stun ray hadn't affected him adversely. After all, he'd only ever used the weapon on humans before, and did not know much about Bothan physiology. However, to his relief, it seemed to have stunned him like it would have anyone else.

'How was he invisible?' thought Shinji. 'Can Bothan's just do that?' He searched the unconcious Bothan, and found two devices he did not recognize. One was clearly a weapon. Shinji fired it at another nearby crate, and the target disintegrated. Shinji had never seen a weapon like this before. He was glad he'd dodged when he did.

The other object was more puzzling. He'd never seen anything quite like it before. He found a switch, and after a moment of debating with himself about it, decided to press it. To his surprise, he turned completely invisible.

He flipped the switch again. 'It must be a limited use device,' he thought, strapping it to his belt. 'That's why the Bothan turned visible after I stunned him. I'll study it later, though. I need to get down to the basement.'

Shinji navigated the many corridors of the Polis Massa station. Occasionally, he almost found himself in the middle of a fight. He had turned off his communicator for the time being, as he didn't want to be distracted by any transmissions, so he had no idea just what was happening on the battlefront.

Once, as he turned the corner, he saw a group of Rebels. Just in time, he hit the switch on the stealth device he'd taken off of the Bothan.

"Did you see that?" asked a Rebel.

"What?" asked another.

"Thought I saw... nah, never mind," said the Rebel. "Probably nothing. I'm just stressed." As Shinji took the next hallway, he was able to catch the Rebel saying he thought he'd "seen a ghost trooper, or something." Shinji smiled to himself. A Ghost Trooper, huh? That would be an interesting reputation to have.

As Shinji traversed the station he noticed that the lower levels seemed abandoned. In fact, it didn't look like the rebels had been down here at all. That was just fine by him.

After a time, he finally reached his destination. He came into a large, cavernous area. He saw what he was looking for: the vault. He looked around and saw that all of the cameras were still there. He once again flipped the switch on the stealth device, and quickly went to work deactivating the surveillance devices.

He deactivated the last camera just in time, and became visible again. He walked over to the vault. Everything appeared to be exactly as he'd left it more than fifteen years ago. Shinji stepped up to the terminal and entered his password.

He removed his glove and placed his hand on the screen. The computer scanned his hand print and accepted it. Then he removed his helmet as the retinal scanner activated. This too cleared. The vault door unlocked, and slowly came open.

There it was, just as he'd left it. His secret weapon. His mother's Legacy. His father's gift. The EVA.

Satisfied that the weapon had remained untouched, Shinji closed and secured the vault once more, locking everything back up. He put his helmet and glove back on, and walked over to one of the security cameras. He activated the stealth device and quickly set about reactivating all of the cameras. He got out of the cavern just as the stealth turned itself back off and entered it's cooldown faze.

Now that his personal business had been taken care of, Shinji needed to get back to his men. He turned on his communicator and contacted Red.

"Still alive?" he joked.

"Course," said Red. "Have you found anything?"

"No," said Shinji, "They didn't have anything hidden where I checked. What's the situation?"

"We're closing in on the holocron's suspected location," answered Red. "Sending you the coordinates." Shinji received the coordinates and checked his hollow map. He smiled underneath his helmet.

"I'll meet you there," said Shinji. "From where I'm at now, I can flank them."

"I look forward to seeing you here," said Red. "Anyone can get this sorted out, it's you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," said Shinji. He shot off the communicator and got moving.

888

Shinji arrived at the battlefront just in time. A number of troopers, including Alex, were pinned down by the Rebels. Shinji, his blaster set to stun, took the enemy by surprise. He was able to knock them all out before they could react. After the last rebel fell, he calmly walked over to his men.

"Did we get it?" he asked.

"It's right over there," said Alex, pointing to the table the Rebels had been standing next to. Shinji walked over and grabbed it. The moment gave him pause. He looked around the room, at the number of bodies present on the floor. He knew there would be more strewn about the station.

'All of this fighting,' he thought, holding the holocron up, 'just for this little tiny thing.' He placed it in a ouch on his belt, and motioned for his men to gather up the Rebels he had neutralized. He beckoned Alex to walk beside him.

"How many casualties?" he asked.

"Too many," said Alex.

"Prisoners?" asked Shinji.

"Not enough," answered Alex. Shinji shook his head sadly.

"This all has to stop."

"I agree, sir. But how, you know?"

"Wish I knew."

888

Shinji and the officers of the 501st hand delivered the holocron to Lord Vader. Shinji marched right up to him and handed it to him, not even trying to hide his feelings.

"I've done what you asked," said Shinji. "Are you happy now, Vader?"

"I am not sure I appreciate your tone," said Vader.

"Sorry," said Shinji, not sounding too sorry, "but we're all a little tired. Two solid years on the go, no leave, no rest."

"I know," said Vader. "But it had to be done. These plans were of the utmost importance. Thank you, Shinji. You and your men have earned your leave. You will get one extra week off, and then you will be back to work." Shinji's face softened.

"Thank you," he said. His officers let out a cheer. It was unprofessional, but they were too pleased to care. They all turned and began marching back towards the ship.

"Shinji," came Vader's voice, "a moment, please." Shinji turned back to face Vader.

"Yes, Lord Vader?" asked Shinji.

"I... I am sorry about all of this," said Vader, surprising the general. "I know I put a lot of pressure on you. I feel that you should know why. You are my oldest friend, Shinji. The only one I have left, I imagine. You are also the only one I can trust."

"Really?" asked Shinji.

"Yes," said Vader. "So go now. Enjoy your leave. The Empire thanks you for your service."

"Thank you, Lord Vader," said Shinji saluting. He turned and left the room. He made his way back to the shuttle that would be taking him back to the venator.

Finally. After two long years. He was going home.

* * *

Wow. Now, I think I owe everyone an explanation. In order to write this story, I played Battlefront 2 a lot. A. LOT. I was so sick of this particular battle that I could not touch the game, and this led to me not writing the chapter either. However, finally, I decided to go with what I really wanted to do here: just show Shinji. Polis Massa, for the purposes of my story, was never about the battle that took place there. It was about Shinji making sure that the EVA was still safely tucked away.

Now, I want to assure you all that I am in fact, back. An awesome friend of mine made a deal with me: as my part of the deal, I had to update all the fics that needed updating. With this piece, I have now done that. We also have a continuing deal that will assure I write two chapters (can be from any story) a week from here on out. That means I'll be updating, in general, regularly.

If you wish to thank my friend, you may do so in any comments you leave, and I will pass your words on to her. Til next time!


	19. coruscant: a dangerous mission

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Evangelion.

Author's note: It's amazing how one anime convention can screw up your time-line. I went to one like, two months ago, and that threw me off all the way to this point. Not an excuse, just needed to let you know what happened. I'm gonna try (I really hate saying that) to do better.

I've been waiting to do this chapter for a while, so without further ado, here we go!

* * *

"Shinji!" cried Rei, nearly knocking him over. Shinji caught her in his arms and held her. He was home, after two long years. He hadn't expected this reception, but he was very pleased with it. After a moment, Rei stood up straight, pushing back slightly, a light blush in her cheeks.

"Hi," said Shinji.

"Hello," she said, trying to fight back her blush. "I am sorry. I could not restrain myself. I am very happy to see you again."

"I'm happy to see you too," said Shinji, smiling. Rei returned the smile with a small one of her own, and then led him inside her apartment. She motioned for him to take a seat on the couch, and went to go prepare some tea.

"I take it that you found whatever it was Vader wanted you to find?" she said.

"Yeah," replied Shinji, frowning slightly. "Two years he had us chasing it. In return, I get three weeks off instead of two. Hardly any time at all, really. Sometimes I feel like the breaks are getting shorter."

"It is simply the passage of time," said Rei, handing him a cup of warm tea and sitting down beside him. "But we should do what we can to make the most of your time."

"Sounds good," said Shinji, taking a sip, "but I think I just want to relax for now, you know?"

"I see," said Rei, smiling a little. "I hope you are up for something tonight though, as I already had plans."

"You did?" asked Shinji, curious.

"Yes," she said, her smile growing just a fraction wider. "The Imperial Ball." The color drained from Shinji's face.

"B-Ball?"

888

"..." Shinji said nothing. They were sitting together in an Imperial Shuttle, on the way to attend the Imperial Ball. All of the most important figures in the Empire, Sans Lord Vader and Palpatine himself, were going to be there. It was a formal event. Shinji loathed the idea.

"What is wrong?" asked Rei. Shinji had hardly looked at her, focusing instead on the passing skyline. He was truly dreading the night's events.

"I feel really off," he answered. "I don't... I don't dance. And this getup? I've never worn something this... I dunno, fancy. I've been in armor the last two years. I feel vulnerable, in more ways than one."

"I think you look rather handsome," said Rei. Shinji's cheeks grew a shade pinker.

"Thanks," he said, turning to look at her, "I really..." His face grew a little more red at the sight of her.

She was wearing a red silk dress. It fit her figure perfectly. It was cut to reveal her shoulders, but left a good deal to the imagination. She was also wearing long silk gloves. Shinji, had he not been so flustered, would have also noticed a small blush in her cheeks as well.

"How do I look?" she asked. The question surprised him, as Rei didn't typically ask after her appearance.

"Uh... you look... uh," he was having a hard time putting his thoughts into words. 'Ok,' he thought, 'focus. Man up. Say something.' He took a deep breath. "You look fantastic." She smiled.

"Thank you," she said. Her smile made all of his apprehension about the coming night, and all of the pressure and strain of the last two years melt away. He felt relaxed, felt good about everything for a change. Even the thought of the Empire, something that had bothered him for the last several years, didn't mean anything for a few moments. Something was going right, after all this time: Rei was smiling.

His anxiety began to return, however, when the shuttle finally reached their destination. There were so many people out there. Humans, twi'leks, zabraks, and many other species. Shinji didn't have much time to notice that the number of non-humans was incredibly low, or to think about the fact that anyone who wasn't human had been slowly but surely phased out of government positions aside from representing their own planets. Even then more planets had human dignitaries now.

None of this was worrying Shinji at the moment, however. There was a more pressing matter on his mind, a more immediate problem. A clear threat. The media.

Shinji had been fighting and traveling for two solid years. It was bad enough that he was suddenly in a civilian situation. But to have to deal with the press? The press, he noticed, that were coming straight towards him, slowly but surely?

Rei sensed Shinji's sudden change of mood. She put her arm around his. She could feel him tense up at the approaching crowd of cameras and reporters.

"Do not worry," she whispered to him. "We can simply walk past them. Let me do the talking."'

"Okay," said Shinji, nervous. The reporters approached them. The apparent leader of the group, a blonde woman in a yellow dress, was speaking into her microphone.

"And here we have the lovely senator from right here on Coruscant, Rei Ayanami," she was saying enthusiastically. "And if the rumors are true, the handsome man on her arm is none other than General Ikari of the 501st Legion, better known to those cowardly imperial dissidents as Vader's Fist."

Shinji tensed up further at the woman's words. There was so much wrong with the situation. He didn't want anyone to know who he was. He'd never liked being in the spotlight, though he always seemed to be thrust into it. He didn't want any undue attention being given to him, especially not for his military record, a record he was growing less fond of with each mission. And he certainly did not want to talk to this overly-cheerful woman in the yellow dress.

"Senator Ayanami, you look lovely this evening," said the woman. "Are you excited to be here tonight?"

"I am pleased to be here," said Rei, her face perfectly expressionless. This only seemed to throw the woman for a moment. She was a professional, after all, and she had the viewers at home to think about.

"And just who is this?" asked the reporter, switching focus over to Shinji. "Please, tell our viewers: are the rumors true? Are you in fact the famed General Ikari?"

"Um, I, uh, well," Shinji began stumbling. He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't like lying, but at the same time he didn't want to attract undue attention.

"If he is General Ikari," said Rei, cutting in, "then he would have just gotten back today from an important mission, which is something that was reported on the holonet just recently. If that is the case then one of either two things are true. He either is General Ikari and, even if he is here now, too tired to answer any questions you may have, or he is not General Ikari, and the good general is at home resting. Either way I do not believe you should be pestering him."

If she hadn't been put of by Rei's manner before, she was certainly a bit put off now. The woman seemed a bit flustered, and unsure of what to say. Rei took the chance.

"Thank you very much for choosing to speak to us," said Rei. "A woman like yourself must have many important people to speak to, so we will not take more of your time." With that, she walked away, bringing Shinji along with her. The woman did not quite recover her composure in time to stop them, but she was able to finally turn back to the camera and continue talking.

"Well, while we weren't able to confirm the man's identity, our viewers may be able to deduce his identity themselves," she said. "After all, it has been speculated for years that the senator and the general have been in a relationship, and if the man on her arm is indeed him, then their status as a couple may have been cemented."

Shinji, hearing her words, grew a bit red in the face. It was true that he and Rei had something between them, but they weren't officially a couple. He wanted that, he truly did, but he'd never had the chance to really do anything about it. He was always off to war, after all. And he didn't want to ask Rei to be with him if he couldn't be around for her.

Rei, meanwhile, seemed unfazed by the woman's words. She was used to dealing with the media. She was a prominent senator, and given the tense political situation in the galaxy she was often interviewed or questioned by people with cameras. And she had heard rumors of a relationship with Shinji for years now. She knew not to respond to them in any way, and it amazed her how the rumors persisted.

She did have feelings for Shinji, that much was very true. She had been delighted that Shinji had come with her to the ball, knowing that he did not enjoy such functions. She was coming out of obligation. She had been invited, after all, and felt she should do her best to appear where expected. Besides that, these social gatherings between senators were a good place to try and talk to them about important galactic matters. They were not being monitored here, and not being scrutinized by the entire senate at once. She found that once the delegates were free of cameras, and had been loosened up with a bit of drink, they spoke their minds.

However, tonight was not the night for politics. Tonight was a night to spend with Shinji, the first like it in over two years. She smiled at the thought. She looked to the young man in question. He seemed much happier now that he was free of the gaze of the cameras.

It suddenly occurred to her just how young he looked. He didn't even look twenty yet, but she knew for a fact that the two of them were actually in their thirties by now. But it was strange. Outside of their jobs, where they were expected to act their age, they could hardly be expected to be approaching middle age at all. It was as if the only aging they really did was during Shinji's leave periods, as if time was put on pause until he got home. Sneaking to Kamino all those years ago had given them an amazing opportunity, one she was grateful for.

They stepped into the building where the Imperial Ball was being held, and Shinji suddenly stopped. Rei looked at him, puzzled for a moment, but it soon became clear why he had halted. He was gazing in wonder at the place. He hadn't been inside a building this fancy before. Though the Ball was held here every year, he had never had the opportunity. He had always been away with the 501st when his invitation came, which had always been fine by him.

Now that he was here, however, he began to regret not being able to attend before. The place was marvelous. It had great marble pillars, crystal chandeliers that cast a soft golden light, waterfall fountains, and most importantly Rei. He wasn't exactly a dancer, and he had never been one for big social gatherings, but it didn't matter. Rei was here, and that was what he cared about.

The music was playing. Shinji slipped his arm from Rei's, and held out his hand. Rei gave him a small smile and clasped his hand. He put his arm around her waist, and she put her arm on his shoulder. They looked into each others' eyes and smiled. Then they began to dance.

It was like there was no one else there. They were aware only of each other, and of the music filling the room. They lost track of time, gazing into each others' eyes. Neither of them noticed that their faces were getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, the music shifted, jarring them back in to reality. The young senator smiled at her general, who smiled back.

"I would like to have a word with a few of the senators," said Rei. "Is that alright?"

"Of course," said Shinji. "I, uh, would you like some punch?" Rei smiled and nodded. As good as it had felt, Shinji was glad to be off the dance floor for a while. Though he believed Rei would tell him he did fine, he was pretty self conscious. He went to the refreshment table, got them each a glass, and found a table to sit down at. He saw Rei talking to a small group of senators.

"So," said a voice behind him, "Enjoying the free time?" Shinji frowned as he turned around. He hadn't wanted to see Tarkin at this function.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Grand Moff?" asked Shinji. Tarkin smirked at him.

"Of course," he said. He looked over at Rei. "So are the rumors true?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Shinji, feigning ignorance.

"You know," said Tarkin, putting a hand to his chin, "there are a lot of whispers about her. Some people question her loyalty to the-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," said Shinji. "Senator Ayanami and I have known each other for a very long time, longer than I think you'd believe. She has been a senator longer than you've held your title. She was around during the government shift, and she hasn't wavered once in her loyalty. Yes, I know sometimes she disagrees with policies set forth by the Emperor, but she remains loyal to the Empire, because the Empire is the governing body of the galaxy."

Shinji narrowed his eyes at Tarkin before he finished what he was saying. "I have actually heard all kinds of rumors, about her, about myself, and even about you Tarkin." Tarkin's eyes raised for just a split second. "Yes, you. So I suggest that you stop listening to rumors, Tarkin. It's not becoming of an officer."

"I see," said Tarkin, barely disguising the venom in his voice. "Well enjoy the rest of the ball, General." Shinji smirked as he left. He really did not like Tarkin. Not one bit.

"Did the Grand Moff give you any trouble?" asked Rei's voice. Shinji looked over to see her standing beside him, and invited her to sit, pulling out a chair for her. As she took her seat, he handed her a drink.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," he said, smiling. "Have fun talking to the senators?"

"I would not call it fun," she answered, taking a sip. "It is all politics as usual. I just wish to know their feelings, as they will not express them at the Senate."

"I see," said Shinji, taking a drink. "Worried?"

"Do you mean myself, or them?"

"Both."

"The senators are worried about reprisal for opinions," she said. "I am not. I worry about the state of the galaxy. That is the more pressing matter. I assume Tarkin was here to find something out about me, correct?" Shinji nodded. "That makes sense. He wishes to be the Emperor's top man, and believes he can do so by intimidating me, one of the few people who openly question the Emperor's methods. It will not work."

"So you really aren't worried then, are you?" asked Shinji, smiling a bit. The blue-haired girl smiled back.

"No," she said, "to put it simply I am truly not worried about Tarkin. Now please finish your drink, Shinji. I... I wish to dance again." They both blushed a little bit, and Shinji did as she asked. They were soon up on the dance floor again, and a slow song had started to play, at the request of a few senators with wives and husbands.

The lights dimmed, and Rei guided them to a particularly shadowy, out of the way spot. She rested her head against his chest, and Shinji put his arms around her. After a few moments, Rei looked up at Shinji, smiling. She knew no one was watching, and knew she couldn't miss this opportunity. The opportunity to do something she could feel they both wanted.

Everything seemed to ignite. Their lips connected, Rei wrapped her arms around Shinji's neck, and he put his around her waist. They stayed that way for only a few moments before Rei pulled away.

Shinji's head was a-buzz. What had just happened had been a strange mix of expected and unexpected, and had felt amazing. And Rei. Rei had the most amazing smile on her face.

"Rei, I-" He was interrupted as she put a finger to his lips.

"Shh," she cautioned, giving him another small kiss. "Later. I just... I could not pass up the chance. There are enough rumors. You will come home with me tonight?"

"Yes."

888

They were inside Rei's apartment. No sooner had Shinji closed the door behind them than Rei grabbed him and pulled his head to hers. This time the kiss lasted much longer. Shinji felt himself pressed against the wall. In response, he wrapped his arms around Rei and pulled her closer. At the same time, he deepened the kiss, eliciting a quiet moan from Rei.

Rei eventually broke off the kiss, and looked into Shinji's eyes. "I know this must all seem sudden to you," she said.

"A little," said Shinji, smiling, "but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't welcome." She blushed.

"You have grown bolder," she said.

"Just a bit," he responded, blushing as well. "How... how long have you felt this way?"

"A long time," said Rei. "Years, in fact. I have simply never had what I felt was an appropriate opportunity to act on my feelings. But I must know. Do you truly feel the same way about me?"

"Yes," said Shinji, with no hesitation. "I do, Rei. Ever since we went to school together, I liked you. But, over time..." She put her lips to his once more.

"I am glad you are home," she said, "And I am glad I have you for an extra week."

"Oh?"

"Yes," she said, her face growing a bit redder as she smiled. "I wish to have you to myself during your leave. No war, no politics, I just wish to spend time with you. If you would like, of course."

"Of course I would!" answered Shinji, happier than he'd been in years. "But what about the Senate?"

"As luck would have it," said Rei, "there is nothing of import to be discussed coming up. If something comes up, I will be informed. Other than that..." She paused, placing her hands on his chest and resting her head on his shoulder, "... I wish to spend as much time as possible with you."

Shinji held her close to him, and rested his head atop hers. He couldn't think of a better way to spend three weeks.

* * *

As always, the way chapters evolve mystifies me. I wasn't sure that the romance would heat up like this in this chapter, but there it is. There's so much more story to tell here, so I hope everyone is strapped in for a long ride. There are so many chapters I've been waiting to do, and for years have I been waiting to do them. I can't wait to share them with you all.

And even though we took a break from the fighting this chapter, things are getting ready to heat up. After all, Episode 4 isn't too far off...

Until next time!


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